in this issue
Here at the Vegan Society
we watched three seagull
chicks grow from tiny
hatchlings to great big
speckled fledglings (bigger
than their parents) over the
course of the summer. They
had nested on the flat roof
opposite and we saw them
take their first flight after
weeks of extending their
wings and feeling the
thermal air currents.
Their mother was very clever, encouraging them to fly
to a higher roof with the promise of food; and
although one of them was slightly slower than the
others, they all eventually took to the air. By September
they were fully independent, returning only rarely and we
haven’t seen them for weeks now. It is lovely to see
wildlife flourish in busy towns, even though they are
much victimised by human beings.
On a more practical note, thank you to everyone who
returned feedback forms, we are pleased to see that
most people thoroughly enjoy reading The Vegan.
There was little agreement about what readers would like
to see more of, so we will continue to produce a bit of
everything in each issue.
We would, however, like to publish more articles
written by our readers and we will consider all those
that are sent in…so please keep them coming.
A lot of people contacted us to ask if the image on
the front cover of the Autumn magazine actually exists
somewhere. I can tell you that it is called ‘The Lady of
Mud’ and it can be found in the Lost Gardens of Heligan,
Cornwall.
Have a great festive season and remember: don’t buy
Christmas cards that support animal abusing charities
and don’t send a cow or a goat or a chicken to
Africa!
Rosamund Raha
Editor

News
n GRANTS FOR ELDERLY VEGANS
Founded 26 years ago to help elderly vegans and vegetarians, the Beulah Charity Trust currently gives grants to elderly vegans and
vegetarians who wish to remain in their own homes. It also provides extra help to those in residential homes.
The present trustees are now in their 80s and 90s and urgently need to find replacements to carry on this important work.
If you can help, please see the advertisement in the classified section.

n PIGS BOILED ALIVE
IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE

n NEW ZEALAND VEGAN CHALLENGES
PROFESSOR ROBERT PICKARD TO TRIATHLON

In addition to
her many
other
activities (see
interview in
our Autumn
issue) Vegan
Society
member Joan
Court runs
an animal
rights hotline from her home in Cambridge.
The hotline is generously sponsored by
Quaker Concern for Animals and Joan
answers a wide variety of calls from concerned
members of the public. Not much surprises
or shocks Joan, but she was appalled
when a call from a whistleblower at the
Dalehead slaughterhouse in nearby Linton
alerted her to the second case this year of
live pigs being thrown into the scalding tank.
Joan immediately swung into action, alerting
DEFRA, the press and everyone she could
think of and refusing to be fobbed off by
anyone. As a result, an employee was sacked
and the company is being investigated by the
RSPCA. It is not yet clear whether the sacked
employee and/or the company is to be
prosecuted, and as the company is a member
of the RSPCA’s so-called Freedom Foods
scheme there have been calls for an
independent investigation. Meanwhile,
Dalehead and other companies involved in
cruelty to pigs or any other animals should
watch out – there’s a vegan about.

Eleven-year-old Ella is a life vegan who has challenged Professor Robert
Pickard to prove his claim that a vegan diet is unhealthy for children.
Ella won her school triathlon this year, and has challenged Professor
Pickard to compete with her in a one-on-one triathlon.
‘If you’re going to say silly things like children must eat animal products,
you have to be prepared to put your money where your mouth is,’ says
Ella. ‘I challenge Professor Pickard to meet me on the sports field and
run, swim and bike it out with me.’
His claim contradicts the position of the New Zealand Dieticians’ association
that a vegan diet is appropriate for all stages of the human life cycle.
‘Pro meat “experts” sponsored by animal industries are as credible as
tobacco industry “experts” who promote smoking,’ says New Zealand
Vegetarian Society (Christchurch Centre) spokesperson Yolanda Soryl.

n NATIONAL TALKING NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES
Listen to this…
If you have difficulty reading the printed word, The Vegan can still be
enjoyed on audio tape.
To receive The Vegan please contact the National Talking
Newspaper Service on 01435 866102 or
info@tnauk.org.uk
National Talking Newspapers & Magazines
National Recording Centre
Heathfield
East Sussex TN21 8DB
Registered Charity 293656

2

The Vegan l Winter 2006

n VEGAN SOCIETY AND VPSG
The Vegan Society are continuing their work with the
Vegan Prisoners Support Group; the latest project to be
taken on is an updated version of the Catering
Information Pack for prisons. This gives prison caterers a
comprehensive guide to dealing with vegans, from
nutrition, sample menus and recipes to Home Office
guidelines and specialist products available in prisons.

n VEGAN FITNESS WEEK 2006 – SWEDEN
Karen Woodhams
Members from www.veganfitness.net from around the world
convened in Stockholm the week of 14th-18th August for the
second annual Vegan Fitness Week packed full of activities.
Participants shared a self-catering cabin on the sea and had the
option of sports ranging from hiking, running workshops and team
sports, sea sports (rowing and canoeing), strength activities
(strongman and power lifting), group activities (aerobox, circuit
training and spinning), to relaxing activities such as yoga, on-premise
sauna and sea-swimming. Everyone joined in communal meals
and contributed to the widely varied and vibrant atmosphere of
the gathering, which ranged from elite athletes down to amateur
fanatics and the casual non-sporty members, thereby highlighting
the diversity of vegans and the potential of an animal-free diet to
fuel athletes of all types and levels. As VFers return to their
respective homes, they are already anticipating the next sports week
and missing newly made friends as the Veganfitness.net community
continues to expand its worldwide network and reunions.

Well, it has taken the lawyers a bit
longer than I expected, but the new
building in Birmingham is now ours!
The address is 21 Hylton Street,
Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6HJ.
Hockley is better known as the
Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, and
is very close to the city centre. It’s
easy to get to on foot or by public
transport.
The building is very sound but will
need to be fitted out to our
requirements before we can move in.
It now looks as though the big move
will be early in 2007. Full details
should be in the Spring 2007 issue of
The Vegan.

The VPSG has also produced a prison news-sheet for
some years and this will now be jointly produced with the
Vegan Society. The news-sheet keeps prisons abreast of
latest developments and is sent to three departments
within each prison: prison shop, catering and the governor.
The catering information pack and prison news-sheet are
all-important in ensuring that vegans are properly catered
for in prison, because they give each prison the ability to
have the facts at their fingertips with regard to vegan
food. So no more peanut butter sandwiches for
breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Vegan Society also supports the VPSG’s campaign for
more vegan products in the prison shop, as they are few
and far between at the moment. The prison shop is
where prisoners may purchase extra food and other items,
on top of those provided by the prison. If you would like
to help out by writing to your MP, please contact the
VPSG for further information.
VPSG, BM 2107, London WC1N 3XX. Tel. 020 8292 8325.
info@vpsg.info or check out their website www.vpsg.info

FROM THE CHAIR
Meanwhile the work of the Society goes
on as normal. This year’s theme for
National Vegan Week is The
Environment. For many years, vested
interests have managed to suppress
public awareness of environmental
matters, but the dam has finally burst
and issues such as pollution, climate
change, rainforest destruction,
desertification, depletion of finite
resources, all of course interconnected,
have now forced their way onto the
front pages.

And, as with animal-related issues and
health-related issues, one answer to the
environmental issues is veganism. Maybe
not the whole answer, but it can be a
major contribution to alleviating the
problems. Please spread the word about
veganism and help to save the planet.
Our recent new booklet on the environment
provides plenty of ammunition.

George D Rodger

The Vegan l Winter 2006

3

Shoparound
Johanna Best

n TIAN – MANDARIN FOR ‘HEAVEN’

n CLEAR SPOT TOFU
Ah, tofu - a vegan’s best friend, especially when it tastes as good as this lot
from Clear Spot Tofu! The range, which includes Smokey Tofu, Tofu Sea Cakes,
Tofu with Mixed Herbs and plain Tofu are all handmade, certified organic and
wonderfully versatile.
We sampled the Marinated Tofu, which has a delicious combination of nine
different spices and can be eaten hot in dishes such as stir fries or even just
cold with a salad. We also tried the rather lovely Tofu Sesame
Burgers, which taste great sandwiched between bread.

For great pressies for loved ones (and yourself),
look no further than Tian. Their range of
wonderfully scented soaps, bath salts, body
scrubs, washes and shampoo bars are
handmade from natural ingredients with no
artificial preservatives or fragrances.
The mineral-rich Dead Sea Salt Bath Crystals, for
example, is infused with 100% pure essential oils.
Regular exposure to these salts is said to moisturise
and nourish the skin, detox the body and can relieve
the symptoms of several skin and joint conditions.
The quality ingredients used in these products means
that they are more concentrated and last longer than
some other products, so you will be able to enjoy
them for longer while reducing the amount of
packaging you use.
Soap bars costs £2.75 for 100g, Dead Sea Bath salts
cost £6.50.
To order go to www.tian.org.uk or call 01905
425654.
Please note that the lip balms and ylang ylang
products are not suitable for vegans.

Marinated Tofu Costs around £1.70 for 200g and Tofu
Sesame Burgers cost around £1.50 for a pack of two
(190g).
To order, or to find your nearest stockists, contact R&R
Tofu: www.clearspottofu.co.uk or call (01653) 690235.

n VINCEREMOS WINE – A LOVELY DROP!
Whether your diary is full of boozy pre-Christmas parties, or you are just
looking for a fine wine to accompany your festive meal, you’ll be
wanting a tipple that is free from our furred, feathered and finned
friends.
Vinceremos have been encouraging organic producers to avoid using
animal products to clarify their wines for over 20 years and now have
a wide selection of quality vegan and organic wines from £3.99 a
bottle, which they’ll deliver to you (or your loved ones) anywhere in
the UK. Their specially created Vegan Christmas Case includes red
and white wines from Australia and Spain, a French sparkling
wine, port and sherry for £72 plus delivery at £5.95 per order (not
per case). Vinceremos also offer a lovely selection of organic and
vegan beers, cider and spirits. Get your orders in by 8th December
for delivery in time for Christmas.
Visit www.vinceremos.co.uk or call 0800 107 3086 for details.

n CHOCOLALA - FRESH FAIRTRADE AND FABULOUS CHOCOLATES
If you ever received a tin of Chocolala’s stunning chocolates then you must know that you are pretty special. These little pieces of chocolate
heaven are freshly made by hand with Fairtrade ingredients, packaged in dinky silver tins and then sent with love to you or the lucky recipient.
Chocolala temptations include outrageously good Dark Chocolate Truffles with a hint of
coconut and chilli, Dark Almond Praline Sticks, Mango Sticks and Ginger Lala. Their Dark Stuff
Selection contains a mixture of these together with a helping of chocolate covered nuts, and
for those extra special occasions they can create bespoke chocolates.
Small (50g) tins cost £8 including postage.
Large (200g) tins costs £22.50 including postage.
To order, visit www.chocolala.co.uk or call (01422) 844 779.

4

The Vegan l Winter 2006

All Shoparound products have been authenticated as

n RED STAR DOG SHAMPOO

n CHRISTMAS CHOCS

(review by Clare Persey)

What would Advent and
Christmas be without
chocolate treats to eat or
hang on the tree? Dietary
Needs Direct (DND) sell a
range of delicious and fun
chocolate and carob
figures, advent calendars
and refills, many of which
are great for kids as they
are not as dark as some vegan chocolates. These products –costing
from £2.95 for a box of 10 carob or chocolate mixed Christmas
shapes - are part of DND’s wide range of clearly labelled foods
suitable for those with special dietary needs. Visit
www.dietaryneedsdirect.co.uk or call 01527 570444

If you have longed for a long muddy walk with your
doggy companions but couldn’t face the aftermath
then you will love Red Star’s lovely new dog
shampoos and soaps. Sexy Rexy will leave your furry
friend with a hint of woodspice while Mud Puppy has
a more floral scent. Minty Muttley has a refreshing
mint fragrance with a hint of citronella.

Prize Draw!
Dietary Needs Direct have one hamper of scrumptious vegan Christmas
goodies to give away to one lucky reader. The hamper - worth £25 includes Snowmen, Chocolate Santas, Christmas shapes and other
treats for the festive season.
Send your name and postal address to info@dietaryneedsdirect.co.uk
with the subject "Vegan Santa Competition" or to Dietary Needs
Direct, Fairfield Court, Fairfield, Nr Bromsgrove, Worcs, B61 9NJ by 6th
December 2006.

n CLEAN WITH NEEM!
The Neem Tree range from Jungle Sale
is based on extracts obtained from the
leaves, oil and seeds of the neem tree
and offers a natural, safe and effective
alternative to the harsh chemicals that
are frequently used in many products
today.
The Neem Bathroom Cleaner - voted
‘Best New Non-Food Product’ at the
Natural Trade Show in Harrogate 2005 uses the antiseptic and antifungal
properties of the neem tree to disinfect
and deodorise bathrooms.
Neem Household Cleaner is an effective multipurpose surface spray
cleaner that uses the natural power of neem and citrus to cut through
dirt and grease to leave your home clean and chemical free.
To see their full range, which includes shampoo, pet shampoo and
massage oil visit: www.junglesale.com or call 0871 250 1271.
Neem Household Cleaner costs £7.95 for 500 ml.
Neem Bathroom Cleaner costs £8.95 for 500 ml.

With no artificial colours, foamers or scents, the
natural shampoos will gently cleanse and soothe the
dog’s skin and help their coat stay shiny and shaggy.
In fact they contain nothing whatsoever of an
artificial nature which makes them more liquid (no
thickeners) so nice and easy to squirt on.
Alternatively, try the shampoo in a hard bar produced
especially for dogs. These are based on the ‘Smooth
As A Baby’s Bum’ human hand soap but are made
even milder for your dog’s skin. There is one to match
each shampoo.
Hard dog soap is £2.90 a bar (125g), shampoo is
£8.40 for 500 ml bottle.
For more details, visit
www.redstarnaturalliquidsoaps.co.uk
or call (01384) 873 748.

n CLEARSPRING ORGANIC INSTANT MISO SOUP
Clearspring’s new nourishing and warming instant miso soup makes a great lunch or snack on chilly
days. Authentically produced in Japan, this wheat-free soup is made from organic brown rice miso
and sweet white miso together with kombu and wakame sea vegetables, and contains no MSG.
This rich tasting soup is very portable making it an excellent and tasty choice for when you are
out and about.
Each nicely-designed box contains 4 single-serving foil sachets of instant soup and costs £2.79.
Available from health food shops or call Clearspring on 020 8749 1781

n VISIONARY SOAP
Visionary Soap has15 different
varieties of natural soap, and their
own line of whipped body butters and
luxurious bath melts (plus a range of
lip balms and body oils in the pipeline)
to cleanse, moisturize and pamper
you. All vegan. All organic. All natural.
Their simple and attractive packaging
is environmentally friendly, and 80%
of their quality ingredients are from
fair trade suppliers such as shea butter
from women’s cooperatives in Ghana
and olive oil from cooperatives in
Palestine so your body care won’t
come at the expense of others.
It’s hard to beat a soak in a warm
bath steeped with their luxurious
Geranium Rose Bath Melt and a rich
lathering of Geranium Rose Soap - full
of pretty rose petals and smelling as
good as it looks. Followed with a dash
of dreamy Geranium Body Butter,
your ethical pampering is complete!
Body butters cost £7.95 for 60ml
Soaps cost £3.95 for approx 100g
Bath melts cost £2.50 each (lasts for
2-3 baths)
To order, or to check for stockists, visit
www.visionarysoap.co.uk or call
01424 460022

n BOURGEOIS BOHEME – ‘FASHION WITH COMPASSION’
Hope you have not already posted your cruelty-free Christmas wish list off to the North Pole
yet, because you are going to want to add to it Bourgeois Boheme’s sophisticated scarves
and gloves, fashionable boots and glam party shoes. Accessory fiends will love the range of
bags, mobile pone/ipod muffs and pretty jewellery; and there is plenty to please
the stylish male too – all available at the click of a few buttons!
And if you can’t decide what you want or what to buy your loved
ones then a gift certificate will do very nicely.
Bourgeois Boheme’s entire range of high quality,
stylish products is vegan and available on line at
www.bboheme.com or call 0208 408 2220
The featured shoe is called Evelyn and costs £49.99

n KEEPING IT CLEAN AND SMOOTH WITH GREEN PEOPLE
Don’t hide your weather beaten, dried and chapped hands in your
mittens all winter. Nourish them with Green People’s lovely new Aloe
Vera Hand Lotion which soothes and moisturises with certified organic
ingredients such as aloe vera and coconut. Free from perfume and
parabens, this lotion is especially created for frequent use and will give
you beautiful paws to be proud of.
While you have your mitts off, give your hands a good wash with
Green People’s new line of organic liquid soaps. Choose from Aloe
Vera, Rosemary or No Scent or the first certified Organic Antibacterial
Soap with powerful extracts from the Australian Tea Tree and New
Zealand Manuka Bush, which leaves hands hygienically clean,
moisturised and lightly scented of Lemon Tea Tree.
Antibacterial Organic Soap costs £9.99 for 300 ml and Aloe Vera Hand
Lotion costs £9.89 for 200 ml from good health stores or from
www.greenpeople.co.uk Tel: 01403 740 350

Reader Offer!
The good people at Green People have 10 Hand Lotions to give away to 10 readers picked
from the hat. Send your name and address to: Green People, Pondtail Farm, Coolham Road,
West Grinstead, West Sussex, RH13 8LN or send an email with ‘The Vegan Magazine Giveaway’
in the subject line to: organic@greenpeople.co.uk (don’t forget to include your address!)

6

The Vegan l Winter 2006

OUT
AND
ABOUT
WITH OUR LOCAL VEGAN CAMPAIGNERS
For complete listings of Vegan Society Local Contacts and Local Groups, see pages 38 to 40

LONDON VEGAN FESTIVAL
n
Sunday 10 September saw another wonderful Londo
ded,
expan
l
festiva
the
time
This
l.
Festiva
Vegan
teaming up with Festival of Life (which promotes raw
food) for a joint event.

WANT TO BE A PART OF THE ACTION?
Sophie Fenwick-Paul, Network Contacts
Co-ordinator
There are two big ways you can
be part of the action over the
next few months. Anyone can
join in and no experience is
required, though experts are always
welcome too!

The festival was packed all day and there was a
fantastic atmosphere with a huge variety of stalls
ranging from raw food groups to vegan companies to
animal liberation groups.
Festival goers were treated to an abundance of food
choices which included some free tasters. There were
as
some amazing raw burgers, salads and energy juices
many
and
s
Veggie
ods,
well as Frys, Plamil, Redwo
s.
others tempting us with their mouth watering goodie

Stop Climate Chaos
We have a cutting edge green theme for National Vegan
Week this year. It is brilliantly illustrated by the new Vegan
Society environment booklet furnishing you with all the
facts.

The number of speakers had increased on previous
years and they gave the low-down on vegan nutrition,
raw food, animal liberation issues, anti-vivisection
campaigns and more. There was also the chance to
relax with some live music with over twelve bands
playing.

At the climax of the week is the huge Stop Climate Chaos
th
event in Trafalgar Square, London, on Saturday 4
strong
November. By being there we can spread the
those
environmental vegan message amongst thousands of
.
planet
the
who care most about

There was something for everyone at the festival
,
including children who were entertained with a clown
juggler, puppet show and workshops.

9464
Contact vegancc@makessense.co.uk (or phone 0118
have
and
up
join
to
e
arrang
to
858 if you have no email)
fun in Trafalgar Square. We can go for a meal afterwards
too!
See www.activeg.org/stopclimatechaos for updates.

The festival continued until 10pm with music in the
main hall. It was a great way to end the day, with a
chance for everyone to wind down and relax.
The first London Vegan Festival took place in 1998 and
was a great success. Since then the festival has gone
from strength to strength and is a true inspiration,
addressing the issues and at the same time being a
vibrant, fun-filled space for people to learn about and
celebrate veganism.
For more information please go to:
www.vegancampaigns.org.uk/festival/

Move the Society
in.
The Vegan Society is heading for premises it can grow
and
s
logistic
the
all
with
work
of
lot
a
means
This
practicalities of moving.
ds
The fantastic BVV and other groups around the Midlan
would
y
Societ
are already rallying support, and the Vegan
welcome all offers of help. Whatever skills or time you
have at either the Brum or Hastings end, please get in
touch.
so
Work is being done on the building in Birmingham first,
skills,
help,
al
practic
offer
can
you
if
away
st
sugge
Or
experience and eco-advice over the next few months.
s?
service
and
rs
supplie
,
people
mend
maybe you can recom
new
With the staff and stock move happening soon in the
when
in,
g
movin
of
nd
year, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be a hectic weeke
g
adaptable practical help will be well received, from stackin
shelves to feeding the crew. Relocation is a great
you
opportunity for the Society and a real opportunity for
s.
vegan
ited
us-spir
genero
other
to muck in with
Contact: Dave Palmer 01424 448831

The Vegan l Winter 2006

7

l
a
n
o
i
t
a
tern
InOUT
AND ABOUT
For complete listings of Vegan Society Local Contacts and Local Groups, see pages 38 to 40

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
In my first year as International
Coordinator I have carried out
duties as diverse as helping a
student member to find a summer
job at an animal sanctuary in
Germany, helping a member in
South Africa to obtain a visa to visit
UK manufacturers of vegan
products, translating articles, letters
and websites, providing information
about accommodation and eating
places and suggesting speakers for
events. All this has been very
ng, as has working closely with
rewardi
and
hile
worthw
Vanessa Clarke, our longstanding International Contact.
Nevertheless it is sometimes pleasant to get out of the
office. (Trustees are all unpaid volunteers and most of us
have full-time jobs: for instance I run my own translation
business.) During the German Vegetarian Society’s
walking week I was kept busy veganizing because when I
introduced myself as a Trustee of the Vegan Society there
was a reverent hush and afterwards I was surrounded by
people declaring that the Society is held in very high
esteem in Germany. During the (not too strenuous) walks
I was asked a lot of questions about the Society, about
what I ate and about B12. Next year this annual event
will be in the Hunsrück, a hilly rural area south-west of
Frankfurt.
The international vegan festival in Denmark (see article
opposite) was a fantastic week with wonderful food
(thanks, Tony!) and great company (thanks everyone!).
Some participants were so keen to keep in touch that
they came to the UK especially for the London Vegan
Festival (which explains all the hugging in the foyer!) and
plan to meet again at the European Vegetarian Union
event being organized by the Austrian Vegan Society in
Vienna from 27 April to 1 May 2007 on the theme The
Veggie Answer to World Hunger. See www.europeanvegetarian.org/lang/en/events/evutalks/2007.php or I can
post details to you. Some participants plan to stay on in
Austria a bit longer or even to visit Bratislava or Budapest.
It is impossible to describe in print just how
enjoyable and friendly all these international events
are. If you haven’t yet been to one you don’t know
what you’re missing!
Remember to let me know of any overseas events that
deserve publicity, and if you’d like to receive occasional emails or letters with information about international
matters please contact me by e-mail or post.
Patricia Tricker, International Coordinator
Cottage 3, Arrathorne, Bedale, N. Yorkshire, DL8 1NA
e-mail: patricia@p-m-t.freeserve.co.uk

8

The Vegan l Winter 2006

VEGANISING INDIA
Vanessa Clarke
Congress
The Society was well represented at the recent World Veg
the
for
g
arrivin
e
despit
all
by
had
was
time
great
a
in Goa and
and
way
own
our
paid
tail end of the monsoon. As ever, we all
would
s
airline
the
as
re
literatu
y
carried with us as much Societ
il member
allow. In this respect, the hero of the hour was Counc
a
had
he
say
Subra Sivarajah who rang at the last minute to
spare
any
have
I
did
and
ed
expect
bigger luggage allowance than
the
at
arrive
him
see
to
ted
deligh
was
and
,
leaflets. I did indeed
Vegans
Why
of
box
big
a
with
r
scoote
motor
hired
a
on
ss
congre
on the handlebars and his partner Liz riding pillion.
vegan – to
For the first time ever in India, every meal was entirely
of the
some
of
t
the initial consternation but subsequent deligh
Indian
ite
favour
their
e
imagin
’t
older vegetarians who couldn
By the
desserts without the hitherto unavoidable milk products.
not
as
s
version
end of the week they were praising the vegan
prog
rousin
were
There
us.
just healthier but even more delicio
ev
Gurud
d
revere
y
tionall
interna
the
vegan speeches from
the
Chitrabhanu and a passionate plea for animal rights from
s,
picture
and
details
For
equally widely revered Dada Vaswani.
06
ess/20
see www.ivu.org/congr
For me, however, the
most memorable
moment was
meeting up with an
enthusiastic vegan
activist who had first
contacted me a year
or two previously
with the usual tale of
isolation and seeking
advice on how to get
a vegan society going
in India. I did what
by
little I could, sending leaflets and books, keeping in touch
might
he
where
ss
congre
the
email and suggesting he attend
meet some kindred spirits.
ed the
Shankar Narayan did a whole lot more than that: he found
help
to
Goa
to
moved
India,
of
y
Societ
now highly active Vegan
il of
counc
ing
govern
the
to
elected
was
and
ss
congre
with the
ate was
the International Veg Union. Another successful candid
to
g
helpin
been
had
Tricker
a
Isaac Dikeocha whom Patrici
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www.indianvegansociety.org, contact Shank
Anem Apts, Pajifond, Margao 403601, Goa, or email
indianvegansociety@rediffmail.com

TENTH INTERNATIONAL VEGAN FESTIVAL DENMARK, 30th JULY – 5th AUGUST 2006
By George D. Rodger

This year’s International Vegan Festival was a very different
sort of event from the various one-day Vegan Festivals in
London, Bristol and other places, which attract many
hundreds of visitors. It was a week-long residential event,
with participants from different countries.
There were about fifty people, half of them from the UK.
The Vegan Society Council was well represented, by five
Council members (all of course at their own expense!)
There were also a former Council member and two former
staff members.
The next biggest contingent after the UK was from
Denmark (no surprise there!) closely followed by Sweden.
The rest were just ones and twos from various European
countries, plus two from the USA and one from Australia.
I was disappointed there was nobody from Asia, Africa or
Latin America. Some Third World vegan activists had
wanted to come, but could not get visas. So it was a very
white, ‘western’ crowd. It included two teenagers and a
baby!
The venue, ‘Diget’, was a residential school in the ‘Skagen’
area, pleasant countryside at the extreme northern tip of
Denmark. The staff had no previous experience of vegan
catering, but had guidance from Tony Bishop-Weston,
formerly of Vegan Society staff. And they rose to the
challenge magnificently. They even served up home-made
soya yoghurt for breakfast. It went very well with their
porridge, which was different every morning, and was
greatly appreciated by this stereotypical Scot!

There was a varied programme of talks and demonstrations,
some of which had little or nothing to do with veganism,
and several excursions to places of general interest in the
district. There was a yoga session every morning, and various
social events in the evenings. The week culminated in a
musical evening organised by American ‘piano princess’ Linda
Gentille, who got everyone involved. Earlier that evening, a
couple of morello cherry trees were planted in the grounds
of Diget, as a permanent commemoration of the event, and
many photos were taken of the whole company.
I don’t think there is any doubt that everyone enjoyed the
week, old friendships were renewed, and new friendships
were formed. Thanks to Kirsten Jungsberg, who organised
the whole thing! .
But did it do anything to promote veganism? Well, Alex
Bourke did several sessions on vegan campaigning, Stephen
Walsh gave his talk on plant-based nutrition, Andrew Knight
shared his experience of combining work as a vet with
animal campaigning, Patricia Tricker and I sold many books
and tubs of VEG 1 on the Vegan Society stall and gave away
a lot of free leaflets. All of these contributions should have
been a big help to those trying to get vegan organisations
going in their own countries. Even our Danish hosts and
the long-established Swedish Vegan Society were able to
pick up some useful ideas.
Speaking personally, I enjoyed the week. I shall probably
return to Skagen. And say hello to the cherry trees when I’m
passing!

The Vegan l Winter 2006

9

10

The Vegan l Winter 2006

The Vegan l Winter 2006

11

Welcome to the Winter 2006 Kids’ Pages
Bronwyn is 10 and has been a vegan all her life. Aisha, her sister, is 14 and has been vegan for 10 years and was a vegetarian even before she was born!

Bronwyn:
Welcome
to the
Christmas
2006
Vegilantics
Page!
We hope
you all have
a great
Christmas!
Aisha: Since we last wrote, I went to
my school camp in Caernarfon in
Wales. It was really fun! We did
loads of activities, including sea
kayaking, and sea level traversing.
We thought that the fact that I’m
vegan would have made getting food
difficult for me, but I ended up better
fed than all my friends, apart from
one other vegetarian! The chef had
never catered for a vegan before, but
she rose to the challenge, and
discovered lots of new foods at the
same time!

Aisha: When they had eaten their
breakfast, and we were all ready to
go, we walked down to WOMAD.
Bronwyn: WOMAD stands for ‘World
of Music and Dance’ and it’s a music
festival. There are lots of different
types of bands from different
countries. There are also loads of
different stalls, each representing a
different charity or shop, most of
which were ethical in some way. I
bought a necklace, a bracelet and two
friendship bracelets: one for me, and
one for Bailey.

Bronwyn: My best friend, Bailey,
came over for a sleepover and it was
brilliant! We stayed up until half past
two playing together. It was great!
The next morning, Mummy made us
have a lie-in until about ten o’clock.

12

The Vegan l Winter 2006

Bronwyn: When Mummy’s not
sabbing, we’ve been squeezing in the
odd demo, too. Recently, we’ve been
helping our friend Toby move house.
He’s a really good cook! He once
made a really yummy chocolate sauce
for our ice cream. Here is the recipe;
you’ll need an adult to help you!

Bronwyn: Aisha was 14 in October,
and for her birthday Mummy and I
gave her a new bike. It’s called Giant
Boulder and it is bright red and silver.
Aisha: My last bike had fifteen gears,
but my new one has twenty-four,
which is fantastic as we cycle seven
miles each way to school each day
including a huge hill! Over the
summer, we both took a cycling
proficiency course – a course to teach
you to ride your bike safely on the
road. We both passed.

Aisha: It was delicious! In September,
we went to the London Vegan
Festival. It was packed with great
products as usual. We love nibbling
at the food stalls, trying out the latest
vegan cheeses, fake meats, mayos and
chocs.

Method:
Mix the margarine, cocoa powder,
and sugar together in a saucepan,
stirring constantly.
Aisha: We also went to stay at
Mummy’s friend’s house in Wales. We
went out for a walk next to a castle,
and Mummy climbed up the wall right
into the door halfway up the tower. I
was quite scared that she would fall
down, but she never falls!
Bronwyn: We went to our friends
Steve and Tina’s house for a barbecue,
but there was torrential rain all day, so
the barbecue wouldn’t light. We still
had our burgers and sausages though,
with home-made apple crumble and
custard for pudding.

Add the soya milk gradually and
keep stirring.
Simmer it for approximately one
minute.
Take away
from the heat,
and beat until
cold. Add the
vanilla
essence, a
little extra
milk, and stir.

THE RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGY

REVOLUTION
Jeff Rice

E

veryone has now heard about climate change and
global warming. Many scientists predict that we
could lose as much as one third of the Earth’s species.
Sea levels could rise by several metres. It is undoubtedly
a massive problem of planetary proportions, a real
end of the world scenario. Climate scientists also say
that we only have a decade left to sort it out or it will
become unstoppable.
But we can do something! We can take personal action.
The clean, green solution is renewable technology. The
renewables industry is growing rapidly. More and more
companies are springing up with a variety of technologies
and prices continually fall. Domestic renewable technologies
look set to become the next ‘must have’ household
accessory.
SOLAR THERMAL
This generates your domestic hot water. The simpler type
consists of a large flat panel that absorbs heat from the sun
which is then absorbed in turn by water flowing through
the panel. The hot water is then stored in your hot water
cylinder. The more efficient types are evacuated tube
systems. These consist of glass tubes containing a vacuum
through which the water pipes flow. The vacuum reduces
heat loss, just like a thermos flask. In terms of the average
household’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, solar thermal
can reduce this by around 20%.
SOLAR ELECTRIC (PV)
Solar panels that produce electricity or Photovoltaics (PV)
are the first type of renewable technology that people tend
to think of. PV most usually comes in the form of ‘bolt-on’
panels but also come in roof tile form. The panel or panels
need to be orientated ideally to the south, but can go as far
as east or west facing. A PV tiled roof, over the course of
its lifetime, can save the emission of around 30 tonnes of
carbon dioxide.

SMALL SCALE WIND
These small wind turbines vary in size from the small ones
that you often see on boats to larger, telegraph pole sized,
free-standing units at the bottom of the garden. One type
that looks set to become the most common are the
domestic roof mounted bolt-on turbines. These have a
diameter across the blade-turning circle of between one
and two metres. They can provide around one third of your
electricity.

HEAT PUMPS
Heat pumps basically work like a fridge in reverse, extracting
ambient heat from the air, a body of water or the ground. The
heat extracted from the environment is then channelled into
your home as usable heat for space heating, either via radiators
or under floorheating, or can possibly be used for domestic hot
water. Air source heat pumps look a little like an airconditioning unit attached to the outside of your home.
Ground source heat pumps require the heat exchanger coil or
loop to be buried either vertically or horizontally, depending on
the property space available. For every unit of energy used to
run the pump you get three to four units back as heat.
MICRO HYDRO
Micro hydro is obviously much more of a niche market. However,
there are plenty of old water mills out there just crying out to
be brought back into productive life generating electricity.
BIOMASS
Most typically for domestic usage, this means a wood-burning
stove. Varying types use wood in the form of chips, logs or
pellets. They are either stand-alone stoves to provide space
heating or can have a back boiler connected to a central
heating system. The latter can also provide your domestic hot
water. The above systems that produce electricity can either be
‘stand-alone’ or connected to the national grid.
To check out companies dealing in the above technologies and
to find out about grants available, have a look at the Low
Carbon Buildings Programme at
www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk or call them on 0800 915
0990. Also, have a look at the Energy Saving Trust at
www.est.org.uk or call them on 020 7222 0101. Another great
source of information on renewable technology is the Centre
for Alternative Energy (CAT, at www.cat.org.uk).
Let’s not forget energy efficiency. Before installing any of the
above technologies make sure you are first cutting down on
wasted energy with simple measures like fitting loft insulation,
double glazing, draft excluders, low energy light bulbs and
turning down your room thermostat. An easy one: don’t leave
electrical appliances on stand-by.
You could also switch to a green electricity supplier.
Check these out at www.greenelectricity.org
It’s time to join the Renewable Technology Revolution.
Don’t wait. Act today!

The Vegan l Winter 2006

13

DON’T SEND A COW TO AFRICA
(OR ASIA OR ANYWHERE ELSE)
Rosamund Raha

P
‘Famine is
largely caused by
Western greed
and the poverty
and corruption
that stem from it.
70% of the crops
fed to animals in
the factory farms
of Europe are
grown in the
developing world.
If these crops were
redirected to feed
people, there
would be no
famine.’

14

The Vegan l Winter 2006

eople who are concerned
about third world hunger
often turn to charities such as
Send a Cow, Christian Aid or
Oxfam to lead the way when it
comes to famine relief. However,
these charities’ policy of asking
people to buy non-human
animals (such as cows, goats
and chickens) for rural
communities to exploit for
meat, milk and eggs is seriously
misplaced. It’s an instance of
fragmented thinking rather
than looking at the root causes
of famine in Africa and other
poor areas.
The politics of food is complex,
however, it is fair to say that
famine is largely caused by Western
greed and the poverty and corruption
that stem from it. 70% of the
crops fed to animals in the factory
farms of Europe are grown in the
developing world. If these crops
were redirected to feed people,
there would be no famine.
Encouraging the developing world
to adopt western eating habits will
only serve to increase the problem.
POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS
ANSWERED
Misconception 1: parts of the
world have dry wasteland areas
where a little grass can grow
but crops will not grow. We
can graze cattle in these areas
but we cannot grow food crops.

Actually, grazing cattle on
scrubland presents a problem.
As the scrub grass is eaten away,
the land turns to grassless desert,
and then forests are cleared to

increase scrubland areas for
grazing. In fact the expansion of
agricultural land accounts for
more than 60 per cent of
worldwide deforestation. Most
of this land is used to graze beef
cattle. Two World Bank specialists
in agriculture concluded:
‘Livestock-induced ranching in
rainforests has led to significant
loss in plant and animal
biodiversity especially in Central
America: 320,000-430,000
hectares per year and in South
America about 1.1 million
hectares per year.’
Misconception 2: eating soya
as an alter native to meat, eggs
and dairy products involves
cutting down trees in Brazil to
grow the soya.
This is something that is often
said by people who are unaware
that most of the soya grown in
Brazil and elsewhere is for animal
feeds. So it is meat, eggs and
dairy-eaters who are destroying
the rainforests.

Indeed humans use much less land
and water if they eat crops
directly rather than through the
intermediary of an animal. This is
because farmed animals consume
much more protein than they
produce: most of the protein from
their vegetable feeds is used for
the animals’ bodily functions and
not converted to meat, eggs or
milk. More water and land is
therefore needed to grow crops
for farmed animals to eat, leading
to deforestation, water scarcity,
soil erosion and increased
pesticide use. The average
vegan’s ecological footprint is
much smaller than the average
meat-eater’s!
Misconception 3: why shouldn’t
people in the developing world
enjoy the meat and milk that
we enjoy?
As vegans, we would like all
people to stop eating animal
products. The West needs to set
an example to the rest of the
world. If everyone in the world
ate a western meat-based diet we

‘Most people in
developing
countries are
slaves to the
Western taste for
animal products.
They are paid a
pittance for their
soya and grains
which are mostly
produced for
animal feeds. ’

would need at least another two
planets the size of Earth to grow
the crops to feed the animals!

earlier, we would need to grow
fewer crops so less water is used
both to grow the crops and for
the animals to drink. This means
that more water should be
available close by. It is better to
provide the water directly than to
provide an animal to carry it.
What people in developing
countries need is a better deal and
a chance to escape western
exploitation, not to stay part of it.
Misconception 5: many tribal
people are hunters; we cannot
deny them their meat-eating
cultural heritage.
Actually, very few people in
developing countries are hunters.
Most people in developing
countries are slaves to the
Western taste for animal products.
They are paid a pittance for their
soya and grains which are mostly
produced for animal feeds. We
need to set our own house in
order, but making the third world
as bad as us really won’t help!
Instead of sending money to
Oxfam or Christian Aid, why not
send money to Hippo or Vegfam
or to organizations such as the
Vegan Society which are working
for fundamental changes in a
Western food culture which
exploits the poorer nations?

Misconception 4: as well as
providing meat/milk, etc,
the animals are also
working animals until
they are slaughtered:
they help villagers to
work the land, carry
heavy loads, etc; isn’t
this better than women
having to carry water
miles from a well/stream
to their village?
If people adopted vegan diets,
there would be far more water
available because, as stated

The Vegan l Winter 2006

15

THE PRESIDENT OF SLOVENIA:
HUMANITARIAN, ENVIRONMENTALIST
AND ADVOCATE OF VEGANISM
Roger and Anna Merényi

D

r Janez Drnov s˘ ek, President of the Republic of
Slovenia, is – to our knowledge – the only vegan
Head of State in the world. He kindly agreed to an
interview for the UK Vegan magazine and invited
Vegan Society members Roger and Anna Merényi to
the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana to share some of his
ideas and beliefs.

Dr Drnovs˘ ek is a popular politician and a
household name not only in Slovenia but
across the country’s borders in Austria,
Italy, Hungary and beyond. He was
instrumental in leading Slovenia to
independence from the former
Yugoslavia in 1991 and has become an
increasingly important voice in the
European Union, since Slovenia’s two
million citizens became members of the
EU in 2004. He was elected President of
Slovenia in 2002, having been Prime
Minister for over a decade, leading his
party to victory at the parliamentary
elections in 1992, 1996, and 2000.
A speaker of five languages, Dr
Drnovs˘ ek is a frequent guest of honour
at conferences around the world and
has received a number of international
awards.

‘When I have an
official lunch or

dinner, only vegan
is served and our
visitors have to
accept it.’

‘I had such a hectic job as Prime Minister that I didn’t pay
much attention to what I ate. But my illness made me think
about it much more’. Dr Drnovs˘ ek began to embrace
alternative medicine and investigated different approaches to
health, such as Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. ‘There came
a point, however, when I simply decided to follow my inner
voice, my intuition. My feelings told me to abandon meat, fish
and dairy products.’

The Vegan l Winter 2003
2006

It was Dr Drnovs˘ ek’s illness which acted as
a catalyst for change. However, it would
be wrong to see this transition as purely
motivated by a desire for better health:
the treatment of animals was another
motivating factor. The President says that
people are nowadays so far removed from
the brutality of the slaughterhouse that
they fail to see the true picture when they
pick up the packaged pieces of meat in the
supermarket. ‘They just don’t think how
the animal has suffered from being
transported, very often without water, and
how they have endured terrible conditions.
I am against the killing of animals.’ He
smiles wryly, adding: ‘I have already made a lot of adversaries as
a result. I think the meat producers have me at the top of their
blacklist.’

and vegetarian food

We began our interview by asking Dr
Drnovs˘ ek whether his transition to
veganism was a gradual or rapid one.
He explained that the process started in 1999, when he had
surgery for cancer and felt that a healthier diet would help
with his recovery. He gave up red meat and then poultry, but
continued to eat fish at first, following advice from his doctors.
He then decided to give up eating fish and to become a
vegetarian. Having accustomed himself to a vegetarian diet,
he moved on to eliminate dairy and egg products and has now
been vegan for over a year. He currently enjoys a varied, and
largely raw, diet of fruits and vegetables, supplemented by
unleavened bread, which he bakes himself.

10
16

Convinced of its health benefits, the President now recommends
the vegan and vegetarian diet to his friends and relatives: ‘It is
important to at least give up meat, so that you have better
energy in the body.’ He approaches the topic in a gentle, nonjudgemental way but he is determined to preserve these values
at the Presidential Palace. ‘When I have an official lunch or
dinner, only vegan and vegetarian food is served and our
visitors have to accept it. Last week the Prince of Monaco was
here on a state visit and we served only
vegetarian meals.’ So at state functions Dr
Drnovs˘ ek eats vegan food and, for guests,
a vegan or vegetarian option is provided.
Even the President’s dog, Brodi, is a
vegetarian. ‘He is a happy dog and he
eats well. Years ago I would have envied
him for the quality of his meals!’ he laughs.

Dr Drnovs˘ ek has spoken out strongly against subsidising mass
livestock farming in Europe and argued in the Financial Times
last year (5th November 2005) that funding from the EU’s
Common Agricultural Policy should be used to encourage the
growing of organic crops. We asked whether these suggestions
were being listened to and acted upon by his counterparts in
other European countries and whether he was encouraged by
the response so far. ‘Not yet,’ he replied, ‘And it is not enough.
The subsidising of each European cow by two dollars a day
continues, and it is the biggest nonsense in the European Union.’
He is hopeful that when the European budget is discussed in
2008, there will be an opportunity for positive change. The
President is also aware of the benefits of vegan-organic
agricultural practices and told us that there are farms in Slovenia
that already use zero animal input methods of crop-growing.

Dr Drnovs˘ ek sees the health and animal
cruelty issues as inextricably linked. ‘If you
eat meat, then you are consuming negative
energy. When the animal is badly treated
and slaughtered, it is frightened, it is
shocked, it is terrified – all this is bad
energy which remains in its body. Then
this is consumed when the animal is eaten.’
Meat and dairy consumption, he argues,
thus lowers the health, energies and
consciousness of human beings. Meateating, hunting, animal experimentation
and the general disrespect shown towards
our fellow creatures are all seen as
impeding awareness.

‘In May of this year
the President
published a book,
Thoughts on Life
and Awareness,
which became an
immediate

This concept of awareness is a crucial one.
For the President, veganism forms part of
a wider philosophical framework that covers
many other related issues. Earlier this year
Dr Drnovs˘ ek founded the ‘Movement for
Justice and Development’ with the aim of
‘raising human consciousness and making
the world a better place’. He is actively
involved in ‘Foundation Together,’ an
organisation which is dedicated to helping
children, and has supported the rights of
refugees, as well as raising money for
Tsunami relief and the disaster in Darfur.
A donation of almost 1 million euros to
projects in Darfur attracted criticism from
some Slovenians, who argued that the
money should have gone to supporting
the less well-off within Slovenia’s borders
and that ‘charity should begin at home.’
Fortunately, Dr Drnovs˘ ek’s worldview is a far broader, generous
and compassionate one. In an age of political opportunism,
popularism and spin, it is refreshing to find a Head of State
who is genuinely unafraid to stand up for his beliefs.

bestseller, beating
Dan Brown’s Da
Vinci Code into

second place in
Ljubljana’s

bookshops.’

‘It is clear that humanity cannot develop
on the same path now with all of its
imbalances.’ We need to reach a critical
mass to increase consciousness, to change
our value systems and thus change the
world.
Dr Drnovs˘ ek maintains that this process
has already started and that the level of
consciousness is changing. Alternatives to
violence and suffering are being offered
to humankind and people are gradually
becoming more aware. As he himself
listened to his inner voice before
becoming vegan, so he believes that
increasing numbers of people are starting
to do the same. ‘It is this inner voice that
always knows what is best for you’,
allowing us to establish contact with
universal consciousness, to more easily
challenge the restrictions of outmoded
convention and to help move humanity
towards a more compassionate and
enlightened way of being.
We asked if Dr Drnovs˘ ek had a message
for readers of The Vegan: ‘I am glad that
there are so many vegans, and a Vegan
Society, in the UK. I would just like to
encourage them and say that they are on
the right path. They should continue.
Don’t listen to those who doubt your
decision. This is the most natural, healthy
diet that you can have.’

Slovenia has made tremendous strides forward since independence
in 1991 and it is clear that its influence in the world goes well
beyond its size. Let us hope that the positivity, wisdom and
compassion of its President has a similar impact on the planet,
for the benefit of people, animals and the environment.

In May of this year the President published a book, Thoughts on
Life and Awareness, which became an immediate bestseller,
beating Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code into second place in
Ljubljana’s bookshops. Dr Drnovs˘ ek is clearly delighted by the
response and the willingness of his countrymen and women to
listen to his ideas. The book is, he says, ‘a recipe for how to
live’, with the emphasis on increasing your energies and raising
your consciousness, on being positive, overcoming the ego,
helping other people and tackling social and environmental
problems. One chapter in the book is, of course, devoted to
the human-animal relationship.
Why is it, we wondered, that despite all the information
available about the suffering of animals, so few people are
willing to change their lifestyle? The President feels that the
general level of awareness, of consciousness, is simply not yet
high enough. He suggests that we live in a world containing
much negative energy, and so we can understand why people
struggle to raise themselves up from self-limiting behaviour.
We see violence which only leads to more violence and, he says,

We are pleased to announce
the launch of our new
nutrition booklet. In sixteen
pages it gives you all the
information you need for a
balanced, nutritious vegan
diet; it even gives you basic
cooking tips.
These booklets are perfect for
giving to friends or for giving
out on stalls.
To order free copies of the new
booklet phone: 01424 448823
or e-mail:
info@vegansociety.com

The Vegan l Winter 2006

19

COMMUNITY CATERING
Clare Persey

What or who are the inspirations for
your recipes?

N

ot for profit community catering
groups provide a much needed
service to the vegan community and
to other groups that are struggling
to make the world a better place.
Clare Persey questions The Anarchist
Teapot about their work.
ANARCHIST TEAPOT
How long has Anarchist Teapot been
around and what was the original
motivation that got it started?

The Anarchist Teapot began life as a café
opening up in squatted buildings around
Brighton. It offered a socialising space,
information, free tea and sometimes food
too. Whilst running out of steam (and
buildings) to continue squatting (after
being evicted from 10 buildings in two
years!), we found people in the Netherlands
who had set themselves up as a mobile
kitchen many years earlier, amongst other
things to feed direct action, i.e. provide
vegan food at gatherings, conferences,
action camps and at demonstrations (this
Dutch group has now split into two
kitchens: Le Sabot and Rampenplan).
We agreed with them that it made sense
to have a group set up on a similar basis
in the UK, instead of them travelling over
here to cook at events.
This was in 1998, and it felt like a good
thing to do at the time; we thought that
growing movements such as ecological
direct action, animal rights and the
beginnings of what is now called the
anti-capitalist or anti-globalisation
movement needed such infrastructure,
and we quite fancied the large stainless
steel pans they could provide us with
too… So after a short mass cooking
apprenticeship, we borrowed some
money, got some equipment and cooked!
Since then we’ve cooked for hungry people
as varied as home-educated kids, striking
bin workers and the masses protesting
against the G8 summit in Scotland...
We are all volunteers, and the aim is
not to get wages or make profits but to
do it because we enjoy cooking and
love food, because we want to support
and build movements we feel close to
politically, and because we can!

20

The Vegan l Winter 2006

‘Cooking on a
larger scale is more
efficient and less
wasteful than
everyone cooking
for themselves.
10 people can
easily make dinner
for 300, using less
packaging, energy,
and other
resources!’

On the other hand, since it’s all done in
our free time, we can’t always cook at
everything we’d want to and need to
limit what we do.
What feedback do you get about
your food?
We’ve had a lot of good feedback over
the years. Especially when people are
camping, they seem to be really appreciative
of properly cooked, healthy meals. Then
again, if someone wanted to complain,
they might not dare! We make an effort
to serve food that’s flavoursome and
filling, and the meat and dairy doesn’t
seem to be missed. Though sometimes
we notice people desperately looking for
cow’s milk for their hot drinks.

We are a group of people with different
tastes and preferences so we inspire each
other! New cooks getting involved always
bring new ideas. We look for recipes and
meals that are not too fiddly, are simple
but tasty, and involve ingredients that are
affordable, and are easy to prepare. We
also like to use seasonal, local ingredients.
We have some staple meals we know
work well, though they always turn out
slightly different depending on which
cook is making it. We’ll experiment with
other dishes which either don’t work out,
or get taken into our repertoire and
evolve over time to ‘the way we make it’.
What is your connection with the
Cowley Club?
Most of us are also in some way or other
involved with the Cowley Club, a
volunteer run social centre in Brighton
that hosts a vegan café and bookshop
during the day, bar in the evening and
other resources (www.cowleyclub.org.uk).
We almost all cook in the café at least
occasionally. It’s a great place to try out
recipes in ranges of 20-40 portions to
then see if they would work for 100-300!
What plans have you got cooking in
the pot for future Anarchist Teapot
ventures?
One thing a couple of us are working on
is a cookbook that will include not only a
whole host of vegan recipes, but also
articles on food production, growing your
own, home-brewing, wild foods, and
generally improving the way you eat and
the relationship you can have with your
food, without restricting yourself or
making it take over your whole life either!

It will be published by Active distribution
(www.activedistribution.org) sometime
in the future. We’ll probably be
cooking at some local events over the
winter, then next summer we may go
to the G8 summit in Germany and
cook there, which should be exciting!
We’ll see where things take us…
If someone wanted to start up a
catering venture like yours, what
tips would you give them?
We aren’t in it to make money, and
that’s probably one reason why it
works, allowing us to cook for cost
price at events we want to support.
We don’t want to have to charge a lot
and end up as more of a luxury than a
provider of one of the necessities of
life. I can’t imagine it’s easy to run a
profitable business doing catering
unless you’re willing to really compromise
on quality, or to only cater for the
relatively wealthy. You need a good
group of people who get along well,
and who really want to cook for people
and can be vaguely organised about it.
Good equipment helps too.

REVIEW
Dandelion and Burdock Vegan Café, 16
Town Hall Street, Sowerby Bridge, West
Yorkshire. Tel: 01422 316000.
By Lucia Lucchessi
We enjoyed a wonderful meal at Dandelion and Burdock. We were warmly
welcomed by David Wilson and his professional team. The ambience, décor
and background music complemented the medley of food which surpassed
all expectations. Situated at the west edge of the Yorkshire Dales, Sowerby
Bridge has clearly become a popular location to live and eat out in. With
more restaurants per square foot than Hollywood Boulevard, David described
how he was determined to create something different to interest everyone.
A stunning 75% of his regular customers are non-vegetarian, which speaks
volumes about the standard and flavours he creates. Much of his inspiration
comes from California, something of a gastronomic capital for healthy food.
His work there led him to believe that there is a huge appetite for food free
from any animal ingredients yet exciting, well balanced and totally edible for all.
A different menu is designed by David every month and can be viewed on
their website. I started my August meal with a fine Belgian beer from the
impressive list of fine wines and beers. This set me up nicely for the freshly
made tasty tomato and basil soup accompanied by a sensational strawberry
vinaigrette salad. My partner kicked off with ‘Kicking Kola’ and a deliciously
light Creole salad. He described his main course (Biryani) as ‘the best ever.’
Praise indeed from one of the world’s fussiest vegan bunnies. He was, like
me, impressed with the stylish way the food was presented.
The Wilson passion for stylish, healthy cooking is reflected in the language
of the menu, for example, zucchini sounds so much more sexy than
courgette. The American influence is clear with no aubergine, just baby
eggplant served with a slender spinach tart for my main course, which was
immersed in a bold bed of mixed leaf salad and more of that superb
strawberry vinaigrette. The only carbs in my meal were in the light pastry
base, so I felt no guilt at ordering the melt-in-the-mouth strawberry
shortcake served with a subtle vanilla ice cream for dessert. Knickerbocker
glory provided the pièce de résistance for my darling bunny whose cup was
literally running over (with chocolate sauce, kiwi and a host of other fresh
fruits) as we finished what had been a wonderful end to a short break
holiday in England.

We’ve produced a publication ‘Feeding
The Masses’ which is part how to cook
for large numbers of people the way
we do, and part recipes and cooking
tips. It’s available for £1.50 including
postage from the address below, and it
is also going to be added to our
website as a pdf.

The restaurant overlooks the point where the two rivers which run through
Sowerby Bridge meet providing added entertainment for diners. The sight
of the wild geese and puddle ducks feasting on offerings from local children
was, like the whole experience, refreshing to the senses.
Full marks to David. It would be so fantastic if Dandelion & Burdock
became a well-known brand throughout the country.

Anything else you would like to
add?
Cooking on a larger scale is more
efficient and less wasteful than
everyone cooking for themselves. 10
people can easily make dinner for 300,
using less packaging, energy, and other
resources!
You can contact us at PO Box 74,
Brighton BN1 4ZQ,

CHESTNUT AND PORCINI MUSHROOM PATE
Serves 8-10
A rich warm pâté ideal as a starter or for Christmas
buffets. Alternatively, wrap the mixture in puff pastry
and bake en croute. Delicious hot or cold.
50g Dried porcini mushrooms
2 medium White onion
2 cloves Garlic
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tin (435g) Chestnut purée (unsweetened)
A generous sprinkle Black pepper
Vegetable oil (for greasing)
Place in a dish and just cover with hot water. Leave to
stand for 10-15 minutes. Rinse well to remove any sand
and dirt. Drain the mushrooms. Reserve a few for
decoration, and coarsely chop the rest.
Finely chop the onion and the garlic, by hand, or in a
food processor.
Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion & garlic and
fry gently until coloured.

SAUSAGE ROLLS
Makes 24 large, 36 medium or 48 small

Place the chestnut purée in a large bowl and mash to
soften and break up any lumps.
Add the pepper to the bowl along with the cooked onion
and garlic. Mix well. Add the chopped mushrooms and
fold them into the mixture.
Place the mixture in a lightly oiled 600ml (1 pint) dish.
Arrange the reserved mushroom pieces on the top of the
pâté for decoration. Bake at 180˚C for approximately 30
minutes. Serve hot or cold.

These generously filled ‘sausage’ rolls are delicious hot, fresh
from the oven, or chilled. They can be made well in advance
and frozen, then defrosted and cooked when needed.

Peel and slice the carrots.
Wash the broccoli and chop into small florets, cutting a cross in
the end of any larger stalks to aid cooking. Place in a
saucepan of boiling water with the carrots and cook until very
tender. Drain well. Mash roughly in a large bowl.
Rinse, drain and add to the mashed vegetables. Partly mash
the beans.
Add to bowl and mash coarsely.
Finely chop the seeds in a food processor and add to the mashed
vegetables, along with the nuts and herbs. Mix well with a spoon.

22

The Vegan l Winter 2006

Finely chop the onion and the garlic, by hand, or in a food processor.
Heat the oil gently in a frying pan. Add the onions and garlic to
the pan and cook gently for 3 minutes.
Add the mushroom to the frying pan and continue cooking for
a further 3 minutes. Add the mixture to the bowl, and stir well,
to create the filling for the sausage rolls.

Wet one of the long edges of each of the strips with a little
water. Then, for each strip, roll the pastry up from the opposite
side, over the filling and onto the moistened edge, to make a
long roll. Press the pastry edges together lightly to make a
seal. Cut each roll into 4, 6 or 8 sausage rolls, depending on
the size you prefer.
Roll out the second portion of puff pastry and repeat.

Roll the first 500g portion of puff pastry out into a square
approximately 36cm x 36cm. Use a sharp knife to cut the
sheet into 3 equal strips. Place one sixth of the filling in a
sausage shape centrally all the way down each of the strips.

MANDARIN TRIFLE
Serves 6-8
A vegan version of a classic English trifle.
This creamy dessert slips down so easilyâ&#x20AC;Ś
150g Vegan sponge cake
150g Mandarin segments,
fresh or tinned and drained
For the jelly:
100ml Water
2g (2tbsp)Agar flakes
400ml Fruit juice (e.g. raspberry)
1tbsp Sugar
For the topping:
1 tbsp Sugar, granulated
3 tbsp Cornflour
500ml Soya milk
1
â &#x201E;2 Lemon
25g Vegan margarine
For the custard:
2tbsp Sugar, granulated
4tbsp Custard powder
500ml Soya milk
1 tbsp Vegan chocolate, grated
Cut the sponge cake into 1-2cm cubes
and place in a layer at the bottom of a
large decorative bowl.
Reserve a few mandarin segments for
decorating the top of the trifle, if desired.
Place the remainder of the mandarin
segments in a layer on top of the sponge.
Place the agar flakes in the water and
stand for a few minutes. Heat to boiling,
and then stir to help the agar dissolve.
When the agar has substantially dissolved (it
may not completely dissolve) start adding
the fruit juice, a little at a time. Allow the
mixture to warm up in-between each
addition, stirring well. Add sugar (if
desired) and stir to dissolve. Simmer for
2-3 minutes. To see if the jelly is ready to
set, remove a few drops of liquid and

Place the rolls on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush the
tops of the rolls with soya milk. Bake at 220Ë&#x161;C for about 15
minutes, until golden.

place on a cold dish. If the removed
liquid does not set, simmer a little longer,
and repeat the test until it does set.
When ready, remove the jelly from the
heat and allow to cool slightly.
Carefully spoon the hot fruit juice mixture
onto the sponge and mandarin layers.
Leave to cool, until the jelly has set.
Mix the sugar and cornflour in a jug.
Place approximately 1tbsp of the milk into
the jug with the sugar and cornflour, and
mix to form a smooth paste.
Place the remainder of the milk in a saucepan.
Peel the rind from the lemon half and add
to the milk in the saucepan. Heat the
milk gently in the saucepan, until just
below the boil.
Slowly pour the hot milk through a sieve
(to remove the lemon rind) into the jug
containing the cornflour/sugar paste. Stir
the contents of the jug well as you add
the milk, to ensure it mixes smoothly with
the paste.
Discard the lemon rind.
Return the milk mixture to the saucepan,
and continue to heat, stirring constantly,
until the mixture thickens. Remove from
the heat.

Place approximately 1tbsp of the milk into
the jug with the sugar and custard
powder, and mix to form a smooth paste.
Place the remainder of the milk in a
saucepan. Heat the milk gently in the
saucepan, until just below the boil.
Slowly pour the hot milk, a little at a time,
into the jug containing the custard
powder/sugar paste. Stir the contents of
the jug well as you add the milk, to
ensure it mixes smoothly with the paste.
Return the milk mixture to the saucepan,
and continue to heat, stirring constantly,
until the custard thickens.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool
for 2 minutes, then slowly pour the
custard onto the set jelly made previously.
Cover, and chill in the fridge until firm.
Once the custard is set, remove the
topping from the fridge and mix the
topping well with a fork or spoon until
smooth. Gently pour the topping onto
the set custard layer made previously.
Cover, and chill in the fridge until firm (at
least half an hour).
Decorate with the reserved mandarin
segments and grated chocolate, if
desired.

Add the margarine to
the pan, stirring until
melted and well
mixed.
Pour the topping
into a clean jug or
bowl. Cover the
surface of the
topping directly
with a piece of
baking parchment
or plastic film to
prevent a skin
forming. Leave in the
fridge to cool.
Place the sugar and the
custard powder in a jug and mix.

The Vegan l Winter 2006

23

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES AND COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES:

THE COMPASSIONATE CHOICE?
By Carol Newman, Science Officer of the Dr Hadwen Trust

A

lternative medicines and complementary therapies,
such as acupuncture, homoeopathy and herbalism,
developed over centuries of human use, are now being
tested in animals.

Increasing numbers of us now seek to pursue an ethical,
cruelty-free lifestyle. For many, this choice involves avoiding
the use of modern orthodox medicines when possible, in
favour of the more natural and gentle approach of alternative
therapies to treat illness and maintain health. As a result,
complementary and alternative medicines are flourishing.
While modern drugs are routinely developed and tested in
animals, most alternative therapies have been developed over
centuries of traditional use in humans. It is therefore
shocking that many of these alternative therapies are now
undergoing investigation and testing in animal experiments.
Published scientific research reveals experiments conducted
on living animals to study the effect of acupuncture, Chinese
herbs, essential oils, green tea, aloe vera, ginseng, ginkgo
biloba, Ayurvedic compounds and homoeopathic remedies.

The research papers do not make pleasant reading. For
example, acupuncture has been tested on cats given
experimental heart attacks, dogs with electrodes implanted
in their stomachs, and rats subjected to convulsions or
chronic pain. Ginkgo biloba has been studied on ear
damage in guinea pigs, brain-damaged rats, and rabbits
with purposely-damaged eyes, while the healing effects of
aloe vera have been investigated on full-skin thickness
wounds in pigs.
Unethical, Unnecessary and Unsound
Animal experiments are more likely to cloud our
understanding of alternative therapies than to clarify it.
Animals can react very differently from us, and experiments
using caged laboratory animals suffering from artificially
induced illnesses cannot fully replicate the human situation.

Denied a Choice
Despite the widespread use of these therapies by people
worldwide, it seems some scientists are intent on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;provingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
their effectiveness in animal tests. Such experiments inflict
needless suffering on animals and effectively remove our
choice to use complementary and alternative medicines that
are free of animal cruelty. This is a serious betrayal of both
patients and animals.

An important element of many alternative therapies is the
emphasis put on a holistic approach. Treatment is often
tailored to the individual, with the underlying causes of ill
health identified and removed rather than merely
suppressing symptoms. This aspect is wholly ignored by
animal experiments, in which induced symptoms are
modelled in an animal, with little regard for the complex
underlying causes of the human illness or the lifestyle
factors that invariably contribute to the condition.

Ginkgo biloba has been studied on ear damage in guinea pigs.

24

The Vegan l Winter 2006

Many people who use and practise alternative therapies
have no wish to see them tested on animals. Animal
experiments are needless when safe and ethical assessment
of alternative therapies could be made by studying the
many thousands of people who regularly use them, or by
using advanced non-animal methods.

These techniques are allowing scientists to safely and noninvasively observe the effects of therapies such as acupuncture
on the brains of volunteers. The effects of herbal supplements,
including ginseng and ginkgo biloba, on brain activity,
concentration and memory have been studied in healthy
volunteers.
Epidemiology (the study of health in populations) can identify
lifestyle and diet factors that affect health. For example,
lower rates of cancer have been recorded in populations that
drink green tea. In addition, laboratory studies show that
green tea prevents the growth of human cancer cells in
culture, suggesting it can play a role in fighting cancer.

Humane Research without Animal Experiments
The Dr Hadwen Trust is a registered charity that funds
the development of replacements to animal experiments.
The Trust has 36 years’ experience of promoting
advanced non-animal research methods such as cell
cultures, computer simulations, chemical and molecular
analysis, test-tube techniques, and human studies to replace
animal experiments (www.drhadwentrust.org.uk).

‘For the sake of good
medicine, safety and our
right to choose ethical
options, animal tests

Real and positive progress is being made that doesn’t involve
animal experiments. Non-animal research methods, together
with long-standing evidence of human safety and
effectiveness for many alternative therapies, provide a far
more positive approach. For the sake of good medicine,
safety and our right to choose ethical options, animal tests
must be opposed. Readers who belong to or support an
alternative healthcare association or professional body, can
help by urging them to take a stand against animal suffering,
preferably by adopting a formal policy statement opposing
animal experiments.
Ways You Can Help
Contact the Dr Hadwen Trust for a free information pack
about their work to develop non-animal research methods.
They also offer a mail order catalogue packed with cruelty-free
gifts. Call 01462 436819 or email info@drhadwentrust.org.uk.
The Dr Hadwen Trust, 84A Tilehouse Street, Hitchin, Herts,
SG5 2DY.
www.drhadwentrust.org.uk
Contact your MP and let them know of your support for nonanimal research. Urge them to bring an immediate end to
animal testing for alternative medicines. You can email your
MP at www.locata.co.uk/commons/ or write to them at
House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA or call
020 7219 4272.

must be opposed.’

Non-animal methods can be used to study a range of
alternative therapies and investigate their effectiveness,
without resorting to animal experiments. For example, the
effects of herbs and essential oils can be studied on human
cells and tissues cultured in laboratory flasks. Human liver
cells are increasingly used to screen compounds for any
potentially harmful effects.
Sophisticated brain scanners such as PET (positron emission
tomography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance
imaging) have opened a ‘window’ into the human brain.

Ladybirds for Life breast cancer lapels
The small ladybird that’s making a
BIG difference
Show your support for non-animal
research by wearing one of the Dr Hadwen
Trust’s Ladybirds for Life breast cancer lapels. Sold in aid
of the Trust’s breast cancer research project at London’s
St Bart’s Hospital, these humble lapels are helping to
raise vital funds to study breast cancer and develop new
methods for assessing therapies, all without using
animals. The lapels are just £2.49, p&p free. To order
yours call 01462 436819 or visit the Dr Hadwen Trust’s
fund-raising webshop at www.crueltyfreeshop.com

The Vegan l Winter 2006

25

26

The Vegan l Winter 2006

NUTRITION NEWS
PLANT FOODS AND BONE HEALTH
Stephen Walsh

OVERVIEW

CALCIUM

A

lthough the mantra of ‘calcium, calcium, calcium’ as a
panacea for bone health is flatly contradicted by the
evidence, the media and some health professionals
continue to foster an excessive focus on calcium which
distracts from other equally important factors for bone
health. This does not mean that calcium does not play an
important role in bone health. The reality is that low
calcium intakes (below 500 mg per day) almost certainly
increase the risk of poor bone health but that much
higher intakes have only a limited protective effect and
are far from a panacea.

While there are plenty of good sources of calcium available to
vegans, dietary surveys such as the EPIC Oxford study suggest
that many vegans consume much less than the UK
recommendations. This can easily be avoided by consuming
500 mg per day of calcium from calcium rich foods such as
kale and spring greens (150 mg/100 g), broccoli, cabbage and
oranges (about 50 mg/100 g), tofu (varies with brand but
often 300 mg/100 g) and fortified plant milks (usually 120
mg/100 ml). Together with the smaller amounts of calcium
present in many other foods this will give a good total intake
of calcium.

The US Nurses’ Health Study has played an important role in
laying myths to rest. By using repeated surveys of the participants’
diets it has built up a particularly good picture of the associations
between diet and health. The recent updates from this study
have shown that:

PROTEIN

n dairy products have little or no apparent effect on fracture risk;
n higher intakes of vitamin D and vitamin K may give significant
protection;
n high intake of pre-formed vitamin A (retinol) appears harmful.
As these results show, bone health is influenced by many
factors. A good level of physical activity and avoiding being
underweight are important. In terms of diet, adequate protein
and plenty of potassium, vitamin D and vitamin K appear each
to be as important as getting an adequate amount of calcium.
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Dietary patterns rich in fruit and vegetables are more
consistently associated with good bone health than dietary
patterns rich in dairy products.
Some studies have focussed on vitamin K, which is found in
large amounts in green leafy vegetables and broccoli and in
some fermented soy products. In the Nurses’ Health Study,
people eating one or more servings of lettuce a day showed
about half the risk of fracture of those who ate no more than
one serving a week.
However, the benefit of fruits and vegetables does not seem to
be limited just to green leafy vegetables. All fruits and vegetables
along with beans and lentils are good sources of potassium and
have an alkalising effect in the body, reducing losses of calcium.
Studies have indicated potassium intake, alkali intake and fruit
and vegetable intake to be linked with lower risk of fracture,
higher bone density and reduced bone turnover. All these findings
support a beneficial effect of fruits and vegetables on bone health.
A recent editorial by Susan Lanham-New in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition (2006; 83: 1420-1428) highlights the need for
further research and notes that ‘a “fruit and vegetables” approach
may provide a very sensible (and natural) alternative therapy for
osteoporosis treatment, one that is likely to have numerous
additional health-related benefits.’

One hypothesis about bone health that has not stood the test
of time is the idea that low protein diets are best for bone
health. Protein has an acidifying effect in the body and
increases losses of calcium but protein is also a key ingredient
of bone and adequate protein is important for growth and
repair.
For both bone health and general health, it is desirable to at
least meet the World Health Organisation recommendations
for protein intake (about 0.75 g of protein per kg of body
weight). Diets based mainly on rice or fruit or containing
large amounts of extracted oils and sugars can be low in
protein by this standard but a normal varied vegan diet will
comfortably meet the recommendations. If calorie intake is
reduced due to either age, inactivity or dieting it can be
particularly useful to include some soya products or other
legumes to boost protein intake. Eating plenty of fruits,
vegetables and legumes provides alkali to neutralise the
acidifying effect of protein.
VITAMIN D
Vitamin D is naturally obtained from the action of sun on our
skin, but the sun needs to be well above the horizon for this
to happen. In the UK we rely on stores built up in summer
and early autumn to meet our needs from late October
through to early March. Getting out around mid-day in
September and October helps boost stores but vitamin D from
fortified foods or supplements may be useful during the winter.
CONCLUSION
A varied vegan diet following some
simple guidelines provides a sound
basis for healthy bones and general
good health.
For further information on good
health from plant foods, see Plant
Based Nutrition and Health, available
from the Vegan Society.

The Vegan l Winter 2006

27

GROW VEGAN
Christine Mackay

WHY NOT TRY AN ALLOTMENT?

W

inter is not a bad time to rent an
allotment, you can take your time
to survey the site and see what needs
doing; Christine offers encouragement
and sound advice.
It is five years since I first took up my
allotment. As is often the case in life,
everything there is to know about ‘growing
your own’ the vegan-organic way cannot be
learned in one season. If I had had an
inkling of just how much there is to learn
(and often the hard way at that), I would
probably have thought twice about taking
on a full-sized plot and opted instead for a
half plot.

Down at the allotments, my title of veganorganic gardener has brought with it some
notoriety, which is another reason why I
have never quit, in spite of being very close
to it sometimes. I have been encouraged by
kind comments from neighbours about how
diverse my allotment looks and how it has
inspired new plot-holders. Unlike many
other meticulously managed plots, my
allotment has a rather untamed and slightly
chaotic look about it. However, on closer
inspection, there is a certain amount of
order to be found. For instance, the
brassica, roots and leaf crops are more or
less grouped according to rotation and there
are wildlife corridors to ensure the safe
passage of frogs, etc.
Encouraging the Wild!
Other plotholders have
followed my
example in
recent years
by installing
small ponds
and I have
also noticed
that many
of the
newer
growers are
combining
flower and
vegetable
growing to
attract beneficial insects such as hoverflies.

Grow Vegan Puzzler
What beneficial insect will flowers attract?
Send your answers on a postcard
to: The Vegan Society (address
details on page 1) by 4th
December 2006. The winner
will receive a bag of Funk
Bubble goodies.
Answer to Autumn Grow Vegan
Puzzler: the inclusion of wildlife features
will normally increase biodiversity.
Winner: Brit Turner from Horsham.

These are encouraging signs because they
demonstrate a general empathy towards
nature rather than a competitive and
annihilative approach which leads to sterile
plots with rows of showy dahlias along their
perimeters.
Each year I add more and more plant species
that will benefit both wildlife and my crops.
Top on my list of insect-attracting plants are
oregano, marjoram and borage. These all
readily self-seed and I only ever remove them
if I absolutely have to, usually to transplant
them. Together with other annual selfseeders such as candytuft, feverfew, calendula,
poached egg plant (which flowers early) and
forget-me-not, the soil is kept well covered
and ‘weeds’ suppressed (with a few notable
exceptions such as thistles and couch grass).
Successes Balance the Losses
After several years of trial and error I feel I
have arrived at a manageable system that
enables me to keep a large plot reasonably
productive without being in frequent
attendance (apart from watering in the
seven-week hot dry spell this summer!)
Using a combination of minimal dig, mulching
(usually with seaweed, cardboard, leaf mould
and compost) and keeping the ground
covered with a wide range of plants in the
summer, both I and the critters are kept happy.
For the first time I have grown soya beans
and they have done very well (apart from
some rabbit predation). One plant in the
glasshouse grew to over 3 feet and set a
fine crop. The prolonged dry weather
resulted in small onions and a very poor crop
of self-seeded potatoes. The runner beans

and broad beans also struggled with the
drought and required frequent watering to
encourage fruit set. Every season is different
and what stresses one crop is often good for
another so you never lose out overall.
I have converted the leaves of dozens of basil
plants into jar loads of pesto. A packet of
Thai basil that was two years out of date
germinated very
well. I also had a
fantastic volume
of raspberries and
enjoyed a good
crop of French
beans, chard,
spinach, mixed
leaf salads,
turnip, beetroot,
cabbage, sweet
peppers, chillies,
blackberries and
apples. This year
many of my
tomatoes have
split. I kept them well watered but I think it
got too hot in the glasshouse and they really
needed watering twice a day.
Each year I apply a bit more knowledge and
each year my allotment becomes more
diverse and productive, with vegan-organic
principles continuing to provide a constant
source of inspiration. The start of a new
growing season is such an exciting time and
there are so many new crops to experiment
with – including produce you will never see
in any supermarket!
Joining VON is the best move for the veganorganic gardener. Remember there is a
world of difference between vegan-organic
(stockfree) and conventional organic – join
VON and help to get real vegan-grown
food into the shops.
Write to: VON, 80 Annable Rd, Lower
Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2DF or email
info@veganorganic.net
VON Membership & general enquiries to
0845 223 5232 (local rate)
Registered charity 1080847
Visit the VON website and join online at
www.veganorganic.net

The Vegan l Winter 2006

29

INTERVIEW
WITH TOM REGAN
Rosamund Raha

T

om Regan is Professor Emeritus
of Philosophy at North Carolina
State University. He is also an
uncompromising ‘Animal Rights
Advocate’ (ARA). In his latest book
Empty Cages – Facing the Challenge
of Animal Rights he argues that
human beings should not enslave
non-human animals and use them
as means to their ends. Rosamund
Raha puts some questions to him.
In Empty Cages you refer to ‘Da
Vincians,’ ‘Damascans’ and
‘Muddlers’; what do you mean by
these terms?
These names refer to three different
ways people can acquire what I call
animal consciousness. Da Vincians
follow the model of Leonardo Da Vinci
who, from a very early age, would not
hurt animals and sought to protect
them. Nobody had to convince him to
be this way. He did not need a rational
proof before he adopted his
compassionate way of being in the
world. It’s just the way he was, as a
matter of his individual nature.
Something in the genes, so to speak.
Many ARAs are like this, which is why I
call them Da Vincians.
Damascans differ. They don’t have the
natural empathy we find in Da
Vincians. But neither are they wanting
some proof, some rational argument
before they enlarge their animal
consciousness. No, their life is changed
radically, dramatically because of
something they experience, the way
things changed for Saul, in the Biblical
story, as he travelled on the road to
Damascus. According to the Biblical
story, Jesus spoke to Saul ‘from the
heavens,’ directly to him in a quite
dramatic fashion. It was on the basis of
this single, life-transforming experience
that Saul, one of the main detractors of
Jesus, became Paul, Jesus’s most
influential disciple.

30

The Vegan l Winter 2006

Some ARAs undergo a similar transformation,
which is why I call them Damascans.
They see something. They read something.
They hear something. And there, on the
spot, in the blink of an eye, they are
born into animal rights advocacy. A
dramatic event in their life changes
the direction of their life forever.

‘The story we need
to get out is that
these industries not
only are abusing
animals, they are
abusing the trust
(and insulting the
intelligence) of their
customers.’

Then there are those I call Muddlers.
Unlike Da Vincians, Muddlers are not
born with natural sympathy for animals.
And unlike Damascans, there is no single
event in their life that changes who they
are, changes why they live. Instead,
Muddlers - well, they just muddle along,
asking one question, then another;
learning this, then that; asking for reasons
for why they should change; needing to
be convinced. Change is a drawn-out
process for them, a journey. But if they
keep at it, a day dawns when they look
in a mirror and, much to their surprise,

they see an Animal Rights Advocate
looking back at them.
That’s certainly what happened in my
life. Nothing in the genes. No Road to
Damascus conversion experience. Just
a long slog to animal rights advocacy.

In your essay Animal Rights and
the Myth of ‘Humane’ Treatment,
you say that most people believe
that non-human animals are
treated well on farms and in
laboratories. Why do you say this?
Most people believe this because this is
what they are told by the multi-billion
dollar animal-abusing industries. And
by the government, whose inspectors
basically serve as arms of the industries
themselves. Read any mainstream
magazine. Peruse any newspaper.
Watch any television station. The story
is everywhere the same. Animals are
treated really well by really caring
people. When Joe and Jane Consumer
hear the same message, over and over
again, it’s natural that they would
accept it as true, especially if those of
us who challenge the message are
pictured as extremist wackos. The
major animal-abusing industries are
very skilful at blunting our message by
attacking the messengers.

How do you think people should
respond to this betrayal of trust?
The first challenge is to help people
see that their trust is being abused,
which will take time and patience. In
my own view, one of the best ways to
do this is to let industry spokespersons
speak for themselves. For example, we
have quotes from the hog industry or
the veal industry saying how ‘humanely’
they treat their animals. And next to
what they say we show pictures of how
these animals are being treated.

The sub-text is, ‘These spokespersons
think you (consumers) are so stupid, so
uncaring that they can say “Black is
white” and you’ll go along with them.’
The story we need to get out is that
these industries not only are abusing
animals, they are abusing the trust
(and insulting the intelligence) of their
customers. Once we have raised
consumer consciousness to this level,
but not before, we have an opportunity
to channel consumer anger and outrage
into a positive force for the animals.

‘Yes, a vegan world
is possible. Why do
I believe this? All I
need to do is look
in the mirror and

In the autumn The Vegan
magazine, Peter Singer said that he
could ‘imagine a world in which
people mostly eat plant foods, but
occasionally treat themselves to the
luxury of free-range eggs, or
possibly even meat from animals
who live good lives under
conditions natural for their species,
and are then humanely killed on
the farm.’ How would you feel
about that kind of world?

see a vegan looking

I can imagine such a world but, in my
judgment, it certainly is not the one
Animal Rights Advocates should be
working to realize. Think about what
‘humanely’ means. It means to do
something with compassion, kindness,
and mercy. Are any animals ever killed
in this fashion? Yes, I think so.
Consider those animals who are dying
and who suffer greatly; there is
nothing we can do to help make their
life any better. In circumstances like
these, I think the humane thing to do
is to end their life, on grounds of
compassion, kindness, and mercy.

‘meat’ of every cut

However, this is far, far different from
taking the life of a healthy animal, in
the prime of life. What kindness, what
compassion, what mercy do we show
to these animals by slitting their
throat? In my honest opinion, people
who endorse a view like the one
proposed by Singer are too interested
in preserving French haute cuisine and
too little interested in working for a
world that truly reflects respect for
animal rights.

As the natural habitats of some
species have been mostly destroyed,

forms of predation. Not circuses, for
heaven’s sake. And not safe havens
open to hunters. It will take vast sums
of money, expansive natural habitat,
and fierce enforcement of tough laws.
For an example, consider the Elephant
Sanctuary in Tennessee (USA). I think
the founder, Carol Buckley, and her
staff are living proof of what can be
done to save imperilled animals
without compromising the animals’
dignity in the process.

back at me.
People need to
understand.
Not only did I eat
and description as I
was growing-up, I
worked as a
butcher to help pay
for my college
expenses.’
Peter Singer suggested that animals
such as chimpanzees, bonobos,
gorillas and orang-utans may need
to live under human control and
protection. Do you consider this
necessary?
I believe we may be fast approaching
a time when the best home for these
and other wild animals might be in
sanctuaries or wildlife preserves that
protect them from human and other

Yes, and of course in a vegan
world there would be so much
more land available to rebuild
wildlife habitats because eating
lower down the food chain uses
much less land and water than
eating crops through the
intermediary of an animal. Do you
believe that a vegan world will
ever be possible?
Yes, a vegan world is possible. Why do
I believe this? All I need to do is look
in the mirror and see a vegan looking
back at me. People need to understand.
Not only did I eat ‘meat’ of every cut
and description as I was growing-up, I
worked as a butcher to help pay for
my college expenses. During those
years, I had eyes but did not see, I had
ears but did not hear.
So if I, Tom Regan, can evolve into a
vegan, anyone can do the same. We
who have arrived at this destination
must never lose hope that others will
join us. We are all imperfect creatures
in an imperfect world. The last thing
we should do is provide people with
another reason for ignoring animals.
Which is why, in my view at least, we
must open our arms to others, not
drive them away from growing more
compassionate because of what we
say or how we say it. The means we
use create the ends we achieve. Our
hate can only create more hate. But
our love for others, even those with
whom we most disagree . . . well, in
the long run, that is the only solution,
when you stop and think about it.
Thank you very much for giving
such an uplifting interview, your
positive comments give us all
hope!

The Vegan l Winter 2006

31

?
I have been a
vegetarian for many
years and would like to
become vegan. However, I
have tried soya milk, but
can’t stand the taste. Are
there any welfare benefits
to drinking organic
cow’s milk or
goat’s milk?

Unfortunately organic cows and goats are still
exposed to many of the cruel practices of nonorganic production: continual pregnancies,
selective breeding for high milk yield, offspring
removed at birth, early slaughter and a link to
the veal industry.
Here are a few tips on adjusting to non-dairy milk:
Try different brands of soya milk; they all vary in
taste so it is worth trying a few to see if you
like any.
Try flavoured soya milk at first as the taste of
the soya is less prevalent, or get used to using it
in cooking.
Try other milks like oat milk, almond milk or rice
milk. Oat milk is nice in hot drinks. Rice milk is
a bit too thin for hot drinks but tastes good on
cereal. Almond milk has a slight sweetness
which makes it nice to drink on its own.
It takes a few weeks to get used to the taste of
plant milks but in time, most vegans come to
prefer them.

32

The Vegan l Winter 2006

YOUR QUESTIONS

ANSWERED
I want to feed
my cat Vegecat or
one of the dried
vegetarian cat foods but I
am worried, because I
have read that cats are
pure carnivores. Can
you advise?

Vegecat (which is vegan) and the dried
vegetarian cat foods such as Ami Cat and
Benevo Cat contain taurine and other
vitamins to prevent deficiencies which might
otherwise arise. Vegecat is a food supplement
which you add to vegan cat food recipes
(recipes supplied with the supplement) and
Ami cat and Benevo cat are dried cat foods.
Some cats (especially if caught young) get on
well with Vegecat while others prefer the
dried vegetarian cat foods. However, some
cats become addicted to supermarket cat
foods and find it hard to make the change.
Consequently some vegan cat owners feed
their cats a mixture of different foods
including small amounts of meat or fish while
others stick purely to vegetarian or vegan cat
food. Obviously, you don’t want to end up in
a battle of wills with your cat or for your cat
to leave home and look elsewhere for their
food; in the end each individual has to use
their judgement in this matter. Because of
these difficulties, some vegans decide that it
is best not to have a feline companion at all.

I am very
active and I like to
play sports; a friend
has told me that I
won’t get enough
protein if I go
vegan. Is this
true?

You don’t have to eat
animal products to get
enough protein, in
fact your best source
of energy is from
complex carbohydrates
and food which
contains both protein
and complex
carbohydrates. Nuts,
seeds, oats, wheat,
quinoa, rice, lentils,
beans (especially soya
beans) are all proteinrich. If you are doing
a lot of sport, eat
three moderate meals
a day which contain
plant protein and
three carbohydraterich snacks (bananas
are an excellent
source). This will help
you to keep your
energy levels up.
After all Carl Lewis
won nine gold medals
while he was a vegan!

Reviews
Capers In
The
Churchyard
– Animal
Rights
Advocacy In
The Age Of
Terror
by Lee Hall
Nectar Bat Press
ISBN 0-9769159-1-X
US Price $14.95
Reviewed by Colm McBriarty
Taking its title from the events
in Staffordshire in 2004, when
the remains of Gladys
Hammond were allegedly taken
by animal rights activists, Lee
Hall presents this challenging
analysis of animal rights
campaigning to encourage the
movement to completely reevaluate itself.
Hall, the Legal Director of the
US-based Friends of Animals,
analyses the methods used by
“extremists”, global animal
charities and animal rescuers.
Her conclusions are unequivocal
and controversial: animal rights
“militancy” fills jails, allows the
enemies of the movement to
focus on the very worst aspects
of it and encourages even more
draconian responses from the
state; likewise, the attempts
made by the more mainstream
animal welfare groups at
improving the lot of commercial
and abused animals are
misguided and fail to address
the wider picture.
Within a framework that
embraces environmentalism
and feminism, successful
advocacy for Hall involves a
complete rejection of “the
culture of dominion”, and food
is the central focus:
“Educating about a vegan life
engages the animal-rights
question at its fundamental
level”. A provocative and very
well-written book.

Field Guide to Edible Mushrooms of
Britain and Europe
by Peter Jordon
New Holland Publishers
ISBN: 1-84537-419-3
£14.99 hard back
Reviewed by Erica Wilson
If you are horrified by the thought that your
mushrooms are probably grown in poultry manure then
make room in your rucksack for this book.
Written by Peter Jordan, the UK’s leading foraging expert
with 60 years’ experience, it is the best field guide to
mushrooms I have seen. It contains 200 large, clear and
colourful photos of over 70 edible varieties, and details how
to cook or store them.
There are some incredible specimens: the Amethyst Deceiver
is a beautiful purple, and the Cauliflower Fungus is
apparently excellent!
A clearly separated section on poisonous fungi is included to
prevent confusion. I can’t wait to get out in the autumn and
use this book – no more tasteless button mushrooms for me!

Vegan Animal Rights
By David Horton
ISBN 0-9585769-4-7
Price: $10 Australian dollars or equivalent
which includes postage to Australian and
overseas addresses.
Reviewed by Clare Persey
This book is easy to dip in and out of with seventy short
articles on vegan animal rights. The author suggests that
veganism and animal rights are linked: you can’t advocate
animal rights unless you are a vegan and you aren’t an
ethical vegan without supporting animal rights.
Through the various articles the book discusses how to best
campaign for vegan animal rights. It also explains various
aspects of animal cruelty right down to insects. It looks at
these issues from various perspectives and David Horton puts
himself in the shoes of: the vegan’s next-door neighbour, a
dog kept in a house all day and a horse in a field. There is
even an encouraging message from ‘God’!
The book has a grass roots feel and Horton bravely delves
into the psychology of campaigning, though not in a
structured way, so you don’t necessarily need to read the
whole book but pick and choose the articles that interest you.
I enjoyed dipping into the book and although I may not have
agreed with all of the author’s viewpoints, he offered them
in a way that didn’t put me off, and he had some interesting
points to make.

The
Bloodless
Revolution:
Radical
Vegetarians
and the
discovery
of India
by Tristram Stuart
HarperCollins
ISBN 0-00-712892-4
£25
Reviewed by Clare Persey
This book traces the history
of vegetarianism with a
focus on the influence of
India. The author states
that vegetarianism truly
came to the West after
travellers visited India and
were inspired by what they
saw there.
The book spans across
four centuries, from 1600
to modern times. Stuart
includes reference to the
English Civil War and
French Revolution,
highlighting vegetarianism
as central to radical
political thought during
both wars, as the relentless
bloodshed encouraged
people to embrace
vegetarianism.
Controversially, at the end
of the book, Stuart
resurrects the argument
that Hitler was a
vegetarian.
If you enjoy history books
you will likely enjoy this,
especially as it embraces
vegetarianism, and Tristram
Stuart threads various
arguments in favour of
vegetarianism through the
book. However, he makes
virtually no mention of the
rise of veganism, which is
the natural progression,
and this is a let-down in
the book.

The Vegan l Winter 2006

33

Membership / Renewal

I wish to become a member and support the work of the Vegan Society.
I wish to renew my membership.
Membership No. (if known)......................................................................

Name:................................................................................Address:..........................................................................................
Postcode:........................................Tel:..........................................................email:..................................................................
Date of Birth: (for security purposes)........../.........../..........Occupation:.....................................................................................
Please tick this box if you are a dietary Vegan. This entitles you to voting rights in the Society’s elections if aged 18+.
Please treat my membership subscription as Gift Aid. I have paid UK income or capital gains tax equal to the amount the Society reclaims.
My income is less than £8000 per year and I qualify for the low income discount of 33%.*

A copy of the Society’s rules (Memo & Articles of Association) can
be viewed on our website or at our office. Alternatively you may buy

I wish to enrol other members of my household for an additional £7 each.**

a copy for £5.

Please give full names of additional members and specify if dietary vegan and / or under 18. (If more than four additional members please attach separate sheet.)

Membership

How to pay
Individual £21

* Less £7 low-income deduction (if applicable)
** Add £7 per additional household member
Under 18 years old £7
Memo & Articles of Association £5
Overseas: Europe +£5 / Rest of World +£7
Payment may be made by
credit card, sterling
International money order
or sterling cheque drawn
on a British bank.

Postbag
Contributions to Postbag are welcomed, but accepted on the understanding that they may be edited in the
interests of brevity or clarity. Please send letters to: editor@vegansociety.com or post them to our usual address.

IN DEFENCE OF ANIMALS

SPECIESISM
In my book Speciesism I coined
the terms old-speciesist and newspeciesist. The opposite of a
nonspeciesist (who supports
rights for all sentient beings), an
old-speciesist limits rights to
humans. A new-speciesist
favours rights for some
nonhuman beings, those who
seem most human-like. As
Rosamund Raha noted in her
autumn 2006 interview with Peter
Singer, I consider Singer a newspeciesist. In his repeatedly stated
view, most animals—many
mammals and all nonmammals—
‘do not qualify for a right to life’
or a right to liberty.
Singer contends that he isn’t
speciesist because, in his words,
speciesism ‘refers to discrimination
on the basis of species, not to
discrimination on the basis of
cognitive capacities.’ That
definition denies the fact that
cognitive criteria themselves
can be based on species. If
discrimination is based on the
actual or presumed absence of
cognitive capacities typical of a
particular species, then such
discrimination is species-biased.
Singer’s cognitive criteria for equal
moral consideration are speciesist
because they’re human-biased.
Singer has described these criteria
as ‘the characteristics that normal
humans have.’ Normal humans.
Singer advocates rights only for
animals as self-aware as a normal
human beyond earliest infancy. In
his view, nonhumans must
possess human-like intelligence to
merit equal moral consideration.
Singer claims that his cognitive
criteria aren’t speciesist because
they don’t require membership in
the human species. However,
they’re clearly human-biased
(species-based) and therefore
correctly termed ‘speciesist’.
Joan Dunayer, author of Animal
Equality: Language and Liberation
(2001) and Speciesism (2004)
Champaign, Illinois, USA

I very much enjoyed reading Dave Palmer’s
concise piece on direct action in the
previous issue. So often I have heard
meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans
regurgitating mainstream corporate media
responses to direct action that it is
somewhat refreshing for the issue to be
dealt with responsibly in The Vegan.
There are many good books around
including Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?
edited by Steve Best and Anthony Nocella,
that can help us try to understand the
actions of people within the vegan animal
rights movement as we look toward a world
that can bring justice for animals and
respect for the environment we live in.
Kevin Watkinson
Leeds

I am writing to express my concern at the
publishing of the article “Direct Action:
Right or Wrong?” in the Autumn 2006
issue of The Vegan. It’s my opinion that
this article would have been better titled
“The Case For Direct Action” such was its
failure to argue both sides of the case.
In today’s highly charged political
environment, such an article does not
merely give the mainstream media
ammunition to use against us, it helpfully
loads the bullets into the magazine and
inserts the magazine into the rifle.
I would urge the editorial team of The
Vegan to consider the wisdom of
publishing future articles of this type.
Will, London

I enjoyed your inspirational interview with philosopher Peter Singer. I am a great admirer of his
but I was disappointed to hear him reiterating the myth that killing is not a form of abuse. It is
surely the very worst kind. All animals, human and non-human, are driven by two overwhelming
desires: to avoid pain and to stay alive. To needlessly deny them either is therefore a form of
abuse. Of course, I cannot prove beyond question that a fox running from the hunt is fleeing
death as much as pain, but surely common sense tells us it is the case.
Why should one be forced to prove such a hypothesis anyway? In applying the cold demands
of logic to a complex and unknowable world, philosophers too often condemn animals to a
regime of guilty until proved innocent, insensible until proved feeling, worthless until proved
worthy. If it were the other way around, non-human animals would not have had to wait so
long to be protected as sentient beings instead of objects.
James Dixon
Bury St Edmunds

Your summer edition
featuring Soya, contained a
lot of useful information
about this common vegan
food source. However, I
was disturbed that the
section subtitled ‘Poison or
Panacea’ made only passing
reference to soya intolerance.
I have been completely
vegan for almost 4 years
and for the last 2 found
myself getting more and
more unwell with asthma,
eczema and general lassitude.

A homeopathic practitioner
suggested that soya could
be causing my problems
because it was overloading
my kidneys and advised me
to cut it out completely.
The effect was nothing
short of miraculous: within
a week I was feeling better
than I had done for years
with all my symptoms
clearing up. Nearly 3
months later, they have not
recurred; the asthma sprays
I’ve used for 30 years lie
unused on the shelf and I

can now easily cycle up hills
which previously left me
completely knackered!
I would counsel any vegan
to make sure they don’t
over-consume any one food
source, especially soya.
It is not that hard to eat a
soya-free vegan diet, by the
way!
Mirian Walton
Bristol

The Vegan l Winter 2006

35

events

Updated diaries and events information can be viewed at www.vegansociety.com

n OCTOBER

Saturday 28th
Vegan Society AGM 2pm
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square,
London WC1 (nearest tube Holborn)
Vegan Society members only.
Followed by Donald Watson
memorial event at 5pm and
presentation of the 2006 vegan
awards at about 7.30pm.
This is also the beginning of National
Vegan Week. World Vegan Day is
1st November. Last year the
theme was Typical Vegan (there’s
no such thing!). This year’s theme
will be on the environment.
http://www.worldveganday.org/
For further information please
contact Rosamund Raha, Head of
Information Services, at the Vegan
Society, or Dave Palmer, General
Manager
rosamund.raha@vegansociety.com
dave.palmer@vegansociety.com

REMEMBER
WORLD VEGAN
DAY ON 1ST
NOVEMBER
If you haven’t already organised an event, stall, display
or publicity stunt to promote veganism on or around
November 1st, and would like to, it is not too late.
Please contact the Information Department for copies
of our booklets and posters.
(01424) 448823 or e-mail info@vegansociety.com

CURIOUS VEGETABLES:
THE COURGETTE
Bill Laws

A profusion of confusion surrounds the tender little courgette.
It looks like a little marrow; and if you let it grow up in the
garden it turns into a marrow. So why don’t we call them
little marrow? And why do the Americans
insist on calling them zucchini?
Columbus was the first European to spot them.
He discovered courgette growing all over America - not
surprising since American Indians, who regarded the courgette as
part of their mythology, were careful to cultivate them. According
to the Algonquin Indians the vegetable was eaten green or askoot
asquash.
Seeds were shipped back to Spain, Italy, France and - around 1700
- to Britain. When the likes of Linnaeus came to classify the
courgette it was properly placed among the amazing Cucurbita
family - amazing because the Cucurbita rank as the worlds most
versatile veg: in their different forms they have served as drinking
cups, yak fodder, bathroom loofah and bottles.
They were variously known as squash (the word borrowed from
those Algonquin Indians), marrow (because their soft centres
resembled bone marrow), pumpkin (from the endearingly French
word poumpom) and gourd, or as the French called them, courge.

The gastronomic Italians had no time for fat marrow: they
prepared them as small marrow or zucchini. The French rather
liked the small ones too and served up their baby courge as
courgette.
And the Americans? Well they would have
continued serving up
squash if wasn’t for
Italian migrants who
flocked to the US cities
and reintroduced their little marrow, or
zucchini, to the courgette’s country of origin.
Bill Laws is a member of the Society of
Authors and author of Artists’ Gardens,
Spade, Skirrett and Parsnip - The Curious
History of Vegetables, Common Losses,
Traditional Houses of Rural France, Old English
Farmhouses, The Perfect Country Cottage, Irish
Country Style and editor of local, social histories including In The
Munitions and Boots on! Out! He edits Travellers’ Times
(www.Travellerstimes.org.uk), the national magazine for Gypsies
and Travellers, and writes about homes and gardens for national
magazines and newspapers.

IDEAS FOR WORLD VEGAN DAY
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n

Join a local eco group and share food and information with them; hand out copies of our new environment booklet.
Contact us on 01424 448823 if you need more copies.
Write a letter to the local newspaper about World Vegan Day and its environmental theme. Use our new environment book for quotes.
Recruit volunteers to bring non vegan friends to try some vegan food at a local restaurant, your house or community centre.
Take pictures and send them to your local newspaper.
Give free talks about vegan nutrition at your local school, college or university, hand out information and put posters up.
On supermarket customer boards put up a customer card that says "Happy World Vegan Day".
Put a poster up in your library, community centre, school, health centre, day care centre or church hall.
Why not have a sponsored walk or swim to prove how fit vegans are.
Have a Football or Rugby match Vegans vs Meat Eaters – everyone dressed up as animals or vegetables. Take photos and send them
to your local newspaper along with details about veganism.
Newspapers and radio stations will often give free advertising for local events and gatherings.

The Vegan l Winter 2006

37

VEGAN SOCIETY NETWORK
The Vegan Society Network
These people are here to help. Simply get in touch.
Send an SAE if posting.
i

- for local vegan information and support

F - family contact with parenting experience
Y - for young vegan support
G - group (social and/or active)
N - New entry
Thinking of getting active or starting a group? Take a look
at the wealth of advice at www.activeg.org then email
Sophie vegancc@makessense.co.uk, or phone 0118 946
4858 if you don't have Internet access.

VEGANISM may be
defined as a way of living
which seeks to exclude, as
far as possible and practical,
all forms of exploitation
of, and cruelty to, animals
for food, clothing or any
other purpose. In dietary
terms it refers to the
practice of dispensing with
all animal produce —
including meat, fish,
poultry, eggs, animal
milks, honey, and their
derivatives.
Abhorrence of the cruel
practices inherent in an
agricultural system based
on the abuse of animals is
probably the single most
common reason for the
adoption of veganism, but
many people are drawn to
it for health, ecological,
resource, spiritual and
other reasons.
If you would like more
information on veganism a
free Information Pack is
available from the Vegan
Society in exchange for
two first class stamps.
THE VEGAN SOCIETY was
formed in England in
November 1944 by a
group of vegetarians who
had recognised the ethical
compromises implicit in
lacto-vegetarianism (ie
dairy dependent). Today,
the Society continues to
highlight the breaking of
the strong maternal bond
between the cow and her
new-born calf within just
four days; the dairy cow’s
proneness to lameness and
mastitis; her subjection to
an intensive cycle of
pregnancy and lactation;
our unnatural and
unhealthy taste for cow’s
milk; and the deoxygenation of river water
through contamination
with cattle slurry.
If you are already a vegan
or vegan sympathiser,
please support the Society
and help increase its
influence by joining.
Increased membership
means more resources to
educate and inform.

Carnbren Vegan Guesthouse is a
comfortable home in the centre of the
northern Highlands. Bed & Breakfast from
£18 - please contact us for details. We are
organising special weekends (writing, art
etc.), please check our website or telephone
for details. If there is something that you'd
like to do, please ask us to organise it for
you; wildlife spotting, relaxation &
pampering, photography? Or just a
pleasant holiday!
Carnbren, Station Road, Lairg, Sutherland,
IV27 4AY
Tel. 01549 402259, email:
www.carnbren-vegan.highlandguesthouse.co.uk

Book early to avoid disappointment:
(0033) 5 61 96 37 03, or send an
e-mail: info@leguerrat.org

Exclusively vegetarian & vegan 3 bedroom
holiday cottage in the picturesque
countryside of SW France. Combine the
privacy & freedom of a traditional French
cottage with the luxury of a vegan breakfast
service provided by neighbouring owners.

COSMETICS
The ideal gift for the person who
has everything. We take into care
those who have suffered from
neglect, abuse and abandonment.
Providing a loving home for
the rest of their days
Buttercup Sanctuary for goats,
Maidstone, Kent, ME17 4JU
Tel: (01622) 746410
Registered Charity: 1099627

HOMEOPATH. Aubrey Burge LBSH.
RSHom. Treating you towards good
health. All remedies carried on a vegan
base. Clinic in Wiltshire or reasonable
distance home consultations welcome.
Tel 01980 630601 for more information.

CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE:
Advertisements are accepted subject to their satisfying the condition that the products advertised are entirely free from
ingredients derived from animals; that neither products nor ingredients have been tested on animals; and that the
content of such ads does not promote, or appear to promote, the use of non-vegan commodities. Books, records,
tapes, etc. mentioned in advertisements should not contain any material contrary to vegan principles. Advertisements
may be accepted from catering establishments that are not run on exclusively vegan lines, provided that vegan meals
are available and that the wording of such ads reflects this.

DISCOUNT CARD

This card entitles the
bearer to discounts at
a range of outlets,
restaurants and hotels.
A full list of discounts
is available from
The Vegan Society.

44
CONGRATULATIONS
to Carolyn Griffin of
Redditch who wins a Funk
Bubble Box of goodies.

Send in a photocopy
(or original) of the
solution to this
crossword, together
with your name and
address by the 4th
December 2006
Prize this issue:
Prize this issue: A
selection of delicious
vegan cakes from Blue
Lotus.